The country has only 18 days’ supply of rice from the National
Food Authority (NFA) and even less stocks for commercial rice, according to a
party-list lawmaker.
ABAKADA party-list
Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz said Thursday there is an imminent shortage of the
staple in the coming weeks in the aftermath of successive storms.
He said he has
received numerous reports that the remaining rice stocks of wholesalers,
distributors and even dealers are already drying up despite claims by the NFA
that the country is nearly rice sufficient.
“I think that we
should really look into this. From what I was told by NFA insiders, we only
have 18 days in supply stock and worst, we only have around five to six days of
good stock rice because the rest are still in palay form,” De la Cruz said in a
statement.
He described the
situation as very serious because the harvest season is still in October,
around two months away.
“That is almost an
eternity to rice eating people like us,” he said.
NFA rice is cheaper
but of lesser quality compared to the commercial grains. The poor comprise the
bulk of those buying NFA rice.
News reports earlier
this week indicated that rice prices particularly that of commercial grade grains
have continued to increase by several pesos per kilo.
As a citizen of the
country, it makes me sad knowing that our country is encountering this type of
problem. Philippines is known to be one of the great rice consumers in the
world, and yet, encountering rice shortage? Who could believe that?
We Filipinos are known to be rice eating people. Unlike other
countries, we really depend on rice and it is one of our main crops.
According
to the article I have read, the shortage is due to the calamities the country
had experienced. That it became hard for them to consume enough rice for some
areas especially in Luzon. When I heard this from news years ago, I got
confused since I’m not used of hearing that kind of crisis. As a student
with nothing on my hands but the ideas I can share, for me the rice shortage is
about the lack of areas for cropping. Urban areas really encounter this kind of
problem. They build infrastructures, factories, offices and a lot more that can
consume a lot of space instead of using it for planting “palay”.
It disturbs me knowing that after hearing rumors
about how people of Luzon discriminate us from Mindanao, they depend on us when
it comes to shortage of rice. What if we don't share? What might happen to
areas with few sources of rice? I can say that we must be fair. We continue to
love our country and show ‘bayanihan’ as what others know about us Filipinos.
Because we don’t know what might happen before us.
