Let’s prepare! World Food Supply Crisis Seen; It’s Time To Produce Our Own!

Every crisis offers boundless opportunities!

A few days ago, I read a news item about the move of an American Senator to start an investigation into the huge rise in the prices of poultry products in the US mainland.

Actually, the problem is not only confined to the US. This is going to affect the whole world as the demand for food increases and production had slowed down.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) reported in October that world food prices have risen by 30% throughout the world in the past year.

Among the commodities whose prices are expected to increase dramatically are rice and corn.

Ano ang implikasyon nito sa mga Pilipino at ano ang dapat nating gawin?

Ang pagtaas ng presyo ng imported na bigas at mais will have a serious adverse impact on the lives of Filipinos since we are importing about 3-million metric tons of rice while corn is a vital component for animal feed production which could affect our poultry and hog industry.

Unless we prepare this early, Filipino consumers will suffer from very high prices of the basic food commodities in the coming months.

So, ano ang dapat gawin ng gobyerno?

First, dapat baguhin na ang Importation Mindset and focus on the production of these basic commodities needed by our people.

For rice, government must address the very low farm gate prices which affect farmers‘ planting intentions.

An increase in the buying price of local palay, would certainly boost production and ensure the country of sufficient supply in the face of an impending crisis.

For corn, subukan kayang gawin ng gobyerno ang ibinibigay nitong suporta sa rice farmers by providing corn farmers with free corn seeds, as well.

Ang napakataas na presyo ng binhi ng mais is what discourages farmers from expanding their farms.

Second, dapat ma address ng gobyerno ang napakataas na presyo ng abono which would affect farmers productivity.

Dalawang hakbang ang dapat gawin:

In the short-term, ipatawag lahat ng mga local fertilizer suppliers and come up with a system to tame the prices or subsidize the fertilizers at source.

For a long-term and sustainable solution, government must really invest in fertilizer production, both inorganic and organic.

Sa organic fertilizer, ang pinakamalaking potential is our Seaweed-based fertilizer which needs further development and improvement.

Third, buhusan na ng tulong at atensyon ng gobyerno ang local hog and poultry industry, pati na ang aquaculture at fish cage farming because these are the fastest commodities to produce.

Remember this:

In less than one month, may broiler ka na; in less than a year, may baboy ka nang kakatayin; in less than 8 months may bangus sa fish cage ka na.

Let us face this impending problem with positivity rather than despair.

Let us look at this crisis as windows of opportunities for us.

By the way, the increase in the world food crisis will also yield a positive effect on Philippine agriculture because one of the commodities whose prices are expected to skyrocket is vegetable oil.

That would mean an increase in the prices of Coconut Oil and Palm Oil and since we have about 5-million coconut farms in the Philippines, our vegetable oil producers will greatly benefit from this development.

Let us prepare for the problems and ride on the opportunities.

#PrepareToPreventDisaster!

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#theoryversusreality!

(This video was taken in Wao, Lanao del Sur last week by the media team of the Biyaheng Senado ni Manny Piñol)