ZAMBASULTA RICE CRISIS SHOWS
DANGER OF RELYING ON IMPORTS
By Manny Piñol
The rice crisis in the city of Zamboanga and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawitawi is a dire warning of the fate that would befall on the Philippines if the economic managers succeed in their proposal to just rely on imported rice and reduce government spending on the country’s rice farming sector.
For so many years, these areas, called ZAMBASULTA, have relied on smuggled rice from Vietnam and Thailand which is brought into the country via Sabah, Malaysia.
Smuggled rice was sold in the market at prices lower than locally produced commercial rice and local officials hardly lifted a finger to stop the illegal activity.
In fact, there were reports that some local officials and their relatives were actually behind the smuggling operations which deprived government of revenues.
There was no serious effort to develop and support the rice industry in their localities for very practical reasons: Good quality smuggled rice was being sold for P29 in the islands and at least P35 in Zamboanga City.
Rice farmers abandoned their farms and shifted to other agricultural activities, including fishing because there was no way they could compete with the cheaper smuggled rice.
Even local rice traders who used to buy and sell locally produced rice, including legally imported rice, abandoned the business because they said they could not sell their stocks.
So, for so many years, these areas relied on smuggled rice until about three weeks ago when the new leadership in Malaysia headed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, after a private meeting with President Rody Duterte, decided to stop illegal activities in the borders of both countries.
The move, I believe, was primarily aimed at addressing the movement of members of terror groups but it also effectively stopped the rice smuggling operations.
When smuggling was stopped, prices of rice in the ZAMBASULTA markets started shooting up and consumers asked for the government subsidized rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) which they ignored in the past.
With local rice production virtually zero because farmers have abandoned rice production, local government officials scrambled to find supply of rice. But it happened during the lean months and worse, the arrival of rice imported by the NFA and the private sector for the lean months was delayed.
I talked to one of the big businessmen in Zamboanga City, Bong Tan, whose family owns Alleson Shipping and for years was involved in rice trading. He said that the family stopped the rice trading business because they could not compete with the smuggled rice.
When I visited his warehouse Monday last week, it was empty.
Rice smuggling killed the rice industry in Zamboanga City, he said.
The story of the rice crisis in Zamboanga City and the three island provinces brings us back to proposal of the government’s economic managers to bring in more imported rice to stabilize the supply in the market and bring down the price.
In fact, they said that the inflow of more rice imports would bring down the price of rice by P7.
I, of course, opposed the proposal and cited the following reasons:
1. Relying on imports and reducing government expenditure on the Rice Program would drive farmers away from their rice farms. They would either venture into other crops or lease their lands. When this happens, the country would be highly dependent on imported rice and the rice exporting countries could dictate the prices. The Philippines would end up paying more for imported rice just like what happened in 2008.
2. The volume of rice traded in the World Market every year is just in the vicinity of about 40-Million Metric Tons. Of that volume, about 38-MMT is already committed to specific importing countries. With the threat of Climate Change, exporting countries’ rice production could be affected by El Niño or floods and when that happens, the volume of rice that they could export would be reduced. Even if we have the money, there would be no rice available in the world market. Again, we would up paying more.
3. The population of the world’s rice exporting countries is growing, just like the Philippines. There will be a time in the near future when the demand for food by their own people would effectively prevent these countries from exporting. Again, when that happens we would end up in a situation where we have the money but there is no rice available in the World Market.
The country’s rice farmers are now producing 93% of our total rice requirements. Last year, they posted the highest harvest in history – 19.28-million metric tons.
The DA’s target is a local rice production level of 95% allowing a 5% window for imported rice.
At that level, the country could easily supply the 5% deficit anytime thus protecting the local market from being manipulated by rice traders.
The ZAMBASULTA Syndrome serves as a warning to all of us not to fall into the trap of relying on imports for our rice supply.
(First photo shows people lining up for NFA rice in a Zamboanga City market while the next photo shows NFA rice being unloaded from a vessel which arrived in Zamboanga City last week. Photos by Diane Faith Garcia.)
More Stories
Practical Farming: Turn Used Plastic Containers Into Life-Time Laying Nests!
Super Bulb Onion Grown In Alamada, North Cotabato
Kapehan With Pareng Gob