By Manny Piñol
The announcement I made about the proposed project for Filipino companies and farmers to plant rice in Papua New Guinea to be supplied to the Philippines in the future has generated ambivalent views, some calling the idea “Visionary” and others labelling me “Bugok” or dumb.
Some of the comments were vicious to which I also responded harshly because while I believe that officials in government like us should be open to criticisms, nobody has the right to berate us like we were their slaves.
Lest this issue degenerate into a senseless trading of insults and name-calling, I have decided to come up with this piece to put things in their proper perspective.
Let us enumerate the irrefutable facts first.
1. The land area of the Philippines is 30-million hectares and 4.9-million of that is currently planted to rice while the seas surrounding the islands of the country, including the 25-million hectare Philippine Rise, are our other sources of food. The area of the land and the fishing grounds is constant and will never expand.
2. The country’s population is now 103-million and it is growing at a rate of 1.9%. It is estimated that the country would have about 200-million mouths to feed 40 to 50 years from now.
3. Even with the introduction of modern farming technology and additional expansion areas for rice production estimated at a maximum of 2-million hectares, the immense population will overtake the capacity to produce food the traditional way.
When we were in Vietnam for the APEC Summit last year, I briefed President Rody Duterte that while we expect to achieve rice sufficiency by 2020, it cannot be sustained because the rapid population growth will overtake the capacity to produce food.
As Secretary of Agriculture, I believe that my obligation is not only to ensure enough food for the Filipinos of this generation but the next generation as well.
I believe in generational responsibility and so while the Department of Agriculture has instituted reforms in food production and supply today, we also have to build the foundations of an agricultural plan which would look after the needs of the next generation, which would include my grandchildren.
Here are some of the profound reforms which I believe would ensure food security:
1. The conduct of the National Food Consumption Quantification Survey which would determine the amount of food to be consumed by Filipinos now and 40 years later. It would also come up with a study on how to change Filipino food preference and eating habits so that they will no longer depend on food items which need large areas to grow and produce. The Food and Agriculture Organization has already allocated $300,000 for this study which will start this year.
2. The National Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map (www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph) which was launched March 7, 2017. The NACCAG will guide farmers on what to plant in their areas taking into consideration the risks and hazards. Mountainous areas should be planted to trees and fruit trees so that soil erosion will be prevented and sources of water will be preserved. Tree Farming has been integrated as an agricultural activity.
3. To prepare for the food needs of the next generation, the DA is now looking at additional areas, both here and abroad, which could serve as the source of food. Solar-Powered Irrigation Projects are now being introduced so that small isolated areas could still be utilized in food production. Establishment of farms by private sectors in other countries with vast areas like Myanmar, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea is also being considered as insurance programs for food security.
Of the three countries mentioned, it was Papua New Guinea which in the view of the experts of the DA offered the best potentials.
The country has an area of 46-million hectares with only 8-million in population and its government has long invited Filipinos to invest in the rice industry of Papua New Guinea, a country where people have shown growing appetite for rice which they import from Australia and sold in the market for the equivalent of P100 per kilo.
The Philippines is not the only country which is interested in engaging PNG in an agricultural partnership.
Australia is already there while Indonesia, Malaysia and China are involved in negotiations with the PNG government.
So what is the proposed PNG Rice Outsourcing Project basically?
It will be a Bilateral Agreement between the Philippines and Papua New Guinea which would allow Filipino companies, employing Filipino workers and farmers, to plant rice in PNG State Lands to be leased by private Filipino companies for 99 years on the condition that any production in excess of what PNG needs could be shipped home to the Philippines.
There will be no Philippine Government funds involved in the PNG Rice Outsourcing Project and Filipino farmers back home will not be deprived of any support from government.
If the Filipino farmers could sustain the rice sufficiency of the country, rice produced from PNG could be exported to other countries in the South Pacific which this early have already signified their intention to buy from PNG even before the project could start.
This will purely be a private sector investment. The role of the Philippine Government will simply be to facilitate and ensure that the investments of the private companies are safeguarded by a government-to-government treaty.
This is no different from the investments of Filipino Fishing Companies who have established canneries and processing facilities for Tuna in Papua New Guinea just so they could catch fish in the waters of the country.
At the height of the frenzy, I even asked myself whether there would be the same degree of criticism if I announced that Filipino companies would go to PNG to plant cavendish bananas or pineapple?
The interest of the Philippine Government in this project lies in the fact that with increasing population, preparations must be made this early to ensure that there will be enough food for the next generation.
In addition to ensuring rice supply, the project will also be a profitable investment for Filipino companies and jobs for young Filipino agriculture graduates, including landless farmers who are experts in operating farm machineries.
It will take years before the first shipment of rice from Papua New Guinea will land in Philippine shores because the project will basically start from scratch.
Farm roads and irrigation facilities, including other agricultural infrastructure will still have to be established by the PNG Government.
By the time the first rice shipment will arrive, President Duterte and I would already be out of office but we will leave behind a program that will ensure a steady supply of rice for the Filipinos.
This is what the PNG Rice Outsourcing Project is all about, a food security program which does not only address the food needs of today but also of the next generation.
There could only be two groups who will oppose and attack this project – those who hate President Duterte so much that they could not see anything good in whatever he and his officials do, and the rice cartel and rice smugglers because this time everything will be transparent.
To emphasize the practicability of this project, I earlier posed this question to the critics:
Since it is almost inevitable that with the growing population, the Philippines would need additional rice supply in the future which our lands may not be able to produce, which would you prefer: 1. Rice imported from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Pakistan planted by farmers of those countries; or 2. Rice brought in from Papua New Guinea planted by Filipino farmers working for Filipino companies whose profits will contribute to the growth of Philippine economy?
I rest my case.
(First photo shows the Philippine Agriculture Secretary with Papua New Guinea Agriculture Minister Benny Allen during a meeting in the DA Secretary’s Office Feb. 13 while the second photo of bountiful rice was downloaded from a public website.)
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