goal : rice self-sufficiency, end rice imports in 3 years

[imanhorn]

um how with a slashed NFA budget?

[sugargame]

Does the current administration still listen to our top agriculturists?

Rice farming has become one of the most expensive activities nowadays because of its high water requirements and chemical inputs. It's better if we wean all filipino families out of rice by introducing other crops that are not as vulnerable to pests and not as dependent to commercial fertilizers as much as rice does. We will have more food on the table if we divert all that water wasted in rice production to fields planted with assorted rootcrops, fruit trees, vegetables, and perrenials. Employ crop rotation and multi-crop plantation instead of the disease-laden rice monoculture.

Everytime you drive along NLEX or SLEX, its just rice, rice, rice. Our farmers dont know anyting else to plant besides rice that's they ruin the environment and our health.

[Kiko Travel]

to think white rice is bad for your health...start buying red or black rice...much healthier...more nutritious

[paenggoy]

^ the Philippines has been a NET IMPORTER of rice since the time of the Spaniards, my friend. like what i said earlier, studies conducted by entities such as IRRI, PhilRice, UP Los Baños, CLSU and DA shown that the rice production in the Philippines is inefficient due to a variety of reasons and that the unstoppable population growth has worsened the problem, for there is no more demand for rice but the supply of rice is lesser than expected.

I don't have earlier data, but from what I have, the country exported from 1980 to 1984, and then started importing from 1985 to 1995 except for three years when it used rice to pay for loans.

The amount exported in 1980 was around 230,000 metric tons.

[visionarylink]

2 months pa lang, kinain na ng ipokritong kampong dilaw ang pinagyayabang na salita nila.

obviously that Banayo did not know what he was bragging about, it turned out to be LIES.

[stepehenyan@12]

malabo maging rice self-sufficient ang ating bansa nauubos na agricultural lands natin sa real estate housing dahil lumalaki population natin ibig sabihin malaki demand. binebenta ng hacindero mga yung excess land nila sa private developer kesa ibenta nila sa gobyerno thru comprehensive agrarian reform program. kasi alam nila babaratin sila ng gobyerno sa presyo ng lupa nila tapos hulugan pa.

[LimpBwiZit]

dunno, mixed feelings.

maliit lang ang arable land sa atin, better devote our land to more productive uses (industrial parks, export processing zones, tourism enterprises, more expensive crops, etc) and import rice instead.

[imanhorn]

dunno, mixed feelings.

maliit lang ang arable land sa atin, better devote our land to more productive uses (industrial parks, export processing zones, tourism enterprises, more expensive crops, etc) and import rice instead.

hindi maliit ang arable land natin... land owners are selling them for subdivisions instead of improving farms and plantations. Example, Hacienda Luisita instead of sugar plantation, dinaanan ng SCTEx binenta ang iba for a posh subdivision.

[LimpBwiZit]

Land use

* Arable land: 19%
* Permanent crops: 12%
* Permanent pastures: 4%
* Forests and woodland: 46%
* Other: 19%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geograp...nes#Statistics

19% translates to 600,000 hectares. with a long dry season and destructive rainy season, and lesser people wanting to remain in farming, maswerte na ang 2 croppings in a year. i think hindi enough ang 600k hectares to support a population of 90M.

besides, agri subsidy is straining our budget and whether we like it or not, it's globalization era - mas mura pa rin ang bigas from thailand, vietnam, and cambodia - we will just be imposing hardship on our farmers.

i really think we should shift to planting crops needed in bio-fuel production - bigger income for farmers, can help reduce oil prices, and not labor-intensive.

then import na lang tayo ng rice. i mean, we're not in ASEAN for nothing. sumali tayo dyan to complement our shortfalls with our neighbors' excesses, and vice-versa.

[gaLj]

dunno, mixed feelings.

maliit lang ang arable land sa atin, better devote our land to more productive uses (industrial parks, export processing zones, tourism enterprises, more expensive crops, etc) and import rice instead.

I agree, most of our agricultural lands are not really suited for rice production. The government should introduce new alternatives to our farmers instead of forcing them to plant rice.

[gs09]

I don't have any facts to support my opinion, but if it is really true that our country isn't a very good location to have rice planted, then I'd rather have our lands utilized for some other crop.

I mean, we should stick to our competitive advantage and export our excess crops in exchange of imported rice. In the end, kung talagang walang maimport na rice, we can always consume what we produce. Pagkain pa rin naman 'yan eh.

[TiffanyisFunny]

Ang pagkakaalam ko, maganda sya sa Mindanao because it is seldom visited by typhoons like in luzon. Taga-Samar hubby ko, in fact, entry point ng bagyo, may taniman ng rice, coconut and copras. Marine resources din, yun lapu-lapu sa amin, ang namimili Taiwanese. Sa South Cotabato, ang isang kahon ng asparagus eh mabibili mo ng P50. Dati yun bata ako, pagnaligo kami sa dagat, nag-swimming pa ang hipon, mafeel mo. NGayon, burak na yun sa amin kasi overfishing at tinayuan ng mga fish pen.

Ewan ko nga eh, ang lawak ng lupa ng bansa natin pero nagugutom ang mga tao. Kelan talaga ng education & research, training sa tao.
YUng paghuli ng mga isda na buntis or dapat i-follow ang sizing ng fish, para may chance silang lumaki, problema eh... huli ng huli lang walang pili. Sana eto ang address ng government natin, kasi ang yaman ng bansa with natural resources kaya dapat hinde tayo magutom or maghirap. Tsaka, population control.

[stepehenyan@12]

galj>>how can you say that most of our agricultural lands are not suited to plant rice e yun nga kinabubuhay ng mga tao noon at hanggang ngayon kundi magtanim ng palay. lalo na sa central luzon. itong bansa natin dati nagtuturo sa neighboring asean countries paano mag tanim ng palay. andito pa nga international rice reseach institute. kahit nga sa bundok nakakapagtanim ng palay banaue rice terraces bundok yun.

[kuroihikari]

galj>>how can you say that most of our agricultural lands are not suited to plant rice e yun nga kinabubuhay ng mga tao noon at hanggang ngayon kundi magtanim ng palay. lalo na sa central luzon. itong bansa natin dati nagtuturo sa neighboring asean countries paano mag tanim ng palay. andito pa nga international rice reseach institute. kahit nga sa bundok nakakapagtanim ng palay banaue rice terraces bundok yun.

Rice has several requirements for its farming. One of them is the steepness. Kaya nga rice terraces and rice terraces kasi hindi pwede tamnan ng bigas ang bundok. Kailangan flat. IIRC anything above 2 degrees incline and it's unsuitable for rice farming. You'd also have to consider erratic weather in most of islands. Most of the plains have been lost to urban expansion, subdivisions, roads, or industry.

IRRI has developed many varieties of rice to counter the problems with growing it, but the problem is, introducing them to the farmers is kind of difficult. Additionally, the finished product may not be something the consumers may take a liking to.

[gaLj]

Sa Central/Northern Luzon maganda magtanim kasi meron sustainable irrigation from Angat and other rivers pero in most area ng bansa problema ang irrigation kaya hindi sila dapat nagtatanim ng palay instead dapat mag-offer ang government ng alternative crops or other source of living.

Thailand and Vietnam ang main source ng imported na bigas natin. Geography wise meron silang sustainable irrigation and hindi sila dinadaaan ng typhoon kaya all year long pwede sila magtanim unlike sa atin na pagdating ng march up to may laging may water shortage tapos june-dec sunod-sunod ang bagyo.

[matuto]

As much as I love rice, its better that we also eat other starches which are more nutritious such as: camote, potato, carrots, pasta or noodles, corn. Beans could also be used to substitute for meat and to lessen rice eating.

[TiffanyisFunny]

^or even corn. Sa Cebu, they use grind corn mill kasi locally there is not much rice paddies. Alternatively, they use corn kaya option doon "kanin o mais" for Class C families. Syempre, yung can afford eh... kanin.

[mellowscream1]

The government is eyeing to make qualified farmer cooperatives major partners in its effort to modernize the rice mill industry in the country.

According to Ricardo Cachuela, executive director of Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), they are planning to give financing support to qualified farmers that are engaged in rice farming so that they can take ownership of their own rice mills.

He said this way, the farmers' rice mills will be more efficient than most that are currently operated by rice millers and some farmer cooperatives.

PhilMech is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture. The plan was under the DA Mechanization and Postharvest Program for Rice (2011 to 2016).


http://www.gmanews.tv/story/224493/b...-modernization

[paenggoy]

Net importer since '85, I think, with around three years until '95 exporting.

[sargo]

rice harvest is expected to exceed targets. a good start towards self sufficiency in rice. lets hope the farmers invest their earnjings wisely.