"Give excess rice to the poor," Say Farmers, Peasants

Vox Bikol

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

LEGAZPI CITY --- The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) urged the Aquino administration to just distribute the excess rice that are still in the warehouses of the National Food Authority to the more than 4 million Filipinos that according to government data eat less than three meals a day.

According to Felix Paz, chairman of KMP-Bikol and national council member of KMP, "If we are indeed swimming in rice, then the Aquino government should just distribute the excess rice for free so that it will not go to waste. It is the best way to resolve this dilemma while hitting two birds with one stone. The excess rice will be utilized and the poor will be given food even for just a few days."

"But our over-reliance from imported rice must stop now. This can be solved by issuing a moratorium on land use conversions of rice land to other uses, as well as crop conversions from rice to more high value crops. This will definitely address the dwindling lands allotted for rice which is now just 3.28 million hectares or just 10% of the country's total land area. It is sad to note that 90% of our population eat rice every day but such a small percentage of land is now being used to cultivate it," he added.

"Aside from this more than 4.2 million farmers and agriculture related workers rely on our staple for their jobs but it is often neglected. While billions are being spent just to import rice, the price of palay (unhusked rice) is very low, which even goes down during harvest time at P4.50 per kilo, Paz said adding that hog feed commands higher price at P5 per kilo.

"What the new administration must do now to completely eliminate rice importation whether legal or illegal is to implement genuine agrarian reform because this is the key to our food self-sufficiency. If the farmers own the land they till and they are mandated to plant rice to feed the nation then we would not have to face another rice crisis again. But as it is 7 out of 10 farmers do not have their own land and we hope that Noynoy will give us what we want," said Paz.