The Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar yesterday warned that a tighter rice supply is expected as exporting countries are seen to hold shipments of the staple to ensure food security amid the prevailing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation.
“The possibility of a tightened global supply is always present, as traditional rice exporting countries are expected to favor securing stocks for their own people, amid increased demand and heightened restrictions in global trade and travel,” Dar said in a statement.
This after Vietnam, the world’s largest rice exporter, decided to halt new rice export contracts.
“We wish to emphasize that the threat of hunger is as real as the threat of COVID-19. Hence, the government is giving equal priority and attention to continuously expand local food production to avoid potential shortage,” Dar said.
The DA is encouraging big agribusiness companies and consolidators to directly engage in “cluster farming” in partnerships with organized farmers’ and fishers’ groups in an effort to address food security. They said that this move is to help widen people’s access to food, considering that rice supply during lean months might not be enough.
“We are also exploring all strategies to see to it that we sustain food security by attaining higher levels of food adequacy, particularly through the implementation of measures to surmount this challenging time in our history,” Dar further said.
The province of Palawan, though not considered as a major rice producing province, but it is considered as rice sufficient or its rice production can sustain the need of the local populace.
Currently, Palawan has more than 60,000 hectares of rice farm in the entire island province, with Narra town as its rice granary, being the province’s top rice producer.
Raymundo Imaysay, chairman of the Palawan Agrarian Reform Communities Cooperative Federation (PARCCOFED) said that their farmers in Narra town are supplying hundreds of sacks of rice every month to resort hotel in El Nido as part of an agreement with Ayala Corporation, that started two years ago.
The DA-MIMAROPA Rice Program said that last year, the region obtained an average rice yield of 4.01 metric ton/hectare. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data said that there are 306,790 hectares of rice fields in the entire region.