arroyo & yap's badge of dishonor & corruption : "We are swimming in rice."

[sargo]

nag criticized dati sa rice importation.

sila rin pala mag i-import sa huli. haay naku.

the aquino admin never said they will not import rice. what they said was the amount of rice that will be imported will be reduced significantly as we are right now swimming in rice.

also the aquino govt said its goal is to achieve rice sufficiency in 3 years time.

strike 2 ka na sa comprehension problem!

[blue_tracer]

lahat naman ng hindi sangayon sa iyo mr. abc, eh may comprehension problem. ayus lang.

[Cholo219]

the aquino admin never said they will not import rice. what they said was the amount of rice that will be imported will be reduced significantly as we are right now swimming in rice.

also the aquino govt said its goal is to achieve rice sufficiency in 3 years time.

strike 2 ka na sa comprehension problem!

"To achieve this year’s procurement target, the agency “might have the money now but the funds would have to be sourced through commercial loans," Banayo said at the sidelines of the recently concluded Agriculture and Fisheries 2025 Summit in Antipolo City."

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/212920/u...e-from-farmers


a loan is still a loan (on top of the 177b they already owe). why do we have to make the loan when "we're swimming in rice"?

[mellowscream1]

The administration will transfer to the private sector from the National Food Authority (NFA) the task of importing rice.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the move is among the reforms to be put in place to help address the money-losing operations of the state-owned agency.

“The other reform in NFA is we’ll use the private sector to be the one to import rather than the NFA doing the bulk of it,” he said.

“We will minimize NFA’s own importations unlike next year when it was government buying.”

The government has been looking for ways to reform the NFA as the agency has incurred debts amounting to P171 billion as of end-2009 from only roughly P43 billion in 2003.


http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

[GreenPeas]

panay accusations wala namang sinasampang kaso

[sixpistols]

Parang totoo ang sinabi nung lasenggo sa kanto namin: "Ang mga pandak, pagsayawin mo na lang dahil walang gagawing matino yan."

[mellowscream1]

To skirt anomalies, NFA to bid out rice imports

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/213013/t...t-rice-imports

[kartero2002]

^^sino kayang kaibigang negosyante ng mga aquino ang makikinabang dito?^^

[sixpistols]

"Do you want your President to eat at turo-turo?"

[sargo]

lets up this thread

[longshot_21]

Aquino warned of rice crisis

Intel body cites threat to national security
By Tony S. Bergonia
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:05:00 04/12/2011

Filed Under: import, Food, Poverty, Security (general), rice problem, Consumer Issues

MANILA, Philippines—Rising costs of basic commodities and services in the country and a shrinking rice supply have become a national security concern, according to a report by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

The report, prepared on Feb. 20 and a copy of which was furnished President Benigno Aquino III, said one of the possible flash points being watched by the local intelligence community was the supply and prices of rice worldwide.

Soaring prices of cereals due to production shortfalls led to food riots in several countries and toppled a government in 2008, while prompting the Philippines to buy huge volumes of rice, which it sold to the poor at a discount.

A top security analyst, who helped prepare the NICA report, said early signs of unrest as a result of the price increases this year were being watched closely.

Pockets of protesters have been holding rallies against price increases and a nationwide strike called by the transport sector is a cause for concern, said the security analyst, who asked not to be named because of the nature of his work.

“The sources of unrest are not just terrorist movements or political conflicts, but also issues of the stomach. The most vulnerable of people are the ones who are hungry,” he said.

In March, the average price of rice in the international market was a little over $500 a ton, according to United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The agency said recently that food prices worldwide this year were about 37 percent higher than last year’s.

In the country, the average retail price of rice ranged from P30 to P35 a kilogram, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported on April 9.

The NICA report came a few days before Social Weather Stations released the findings of its survey on poverty that said at least two out of every 10 Filipinos had experienced hunger this year and more than half of the country’s population rated themselves as poor.

Unusual weather

The NICA report, tagged as confidential, said unusual weather patterns brought by climate change and upheavals worldwide were exacting a heavy toll on food supply and costs in many parts of the world, including the Philippines.

Some of the writings on the wall that point to a potential crisis in rice supply, according to the report, are the following:

• Weather disturbances—flooding and drought—“have greatly affected food production worldwide.”

• Rice-producing countries, “without any exemption … experienced overall reductions in production.” These are the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, China and Cambodia.

• Massive losses in wheat production due to flooding and a cold spell in Australia, Russia, Ukraine and countries in Eastern Europe are likely to force wheat consumers to shift to rice, further straining worldwide supply.

“Wheat affects rice importation because rice and wheat are reciprocal alternatives, being similarly the world’s most important staple food,” the NICA report said.

• A warning made by the FAO of a worldwide food crisis as a result of sharp declines in international food production.

Ledac meeting

The report has reached the desk of the President and was taken up at the first meeting of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Feb. 28, according to the source.

At a press conference following the LEDAC meeting, Mr. Aquino was quoted as saying he had asked the agriculture department to review its figures on rice availability “because if we suddenly have a shortage … this will certainly have a deleterious effect on consumers.”

“This report is being made to mitigate the spiraling costs (of goods and commodities) which started going up at the start of the year 2011,” the NICA report said.

The most-watched commodity is rice, it said, because “any increase in the cost of vital commodities, such as rice, will be politically critical to any administration.”

Vulnerable

The report said the country was very vulnerable to the tightening of food supplies in the world. The country currently has a production shortfall of 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of rice.

“In short, our rice production will not be able to meet our food demand for the year 2011,” it said.

The country has a buffer stock of rice amounting to at least 2.5 million MT, according to the BAS.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala was earlier quoted as saying that the Philippines may need to import up to 800,000 MT to fill the gap in local production.

More rice imports

Jittery over the possibility of price increases in the international market and the specter of stronger storms, the National Food Authority (NFA) said it would import more rice to ensure a stable supply and prices in the latter part of the year.

NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo Monday said he was in favor of importing an additional 300,000 MT of rice to boost buffer stocks.

The NFA recently ordered from Vietnam 200,000 MT, which cost the agency about P4 billion under a government-to-government deal. The rice will be delivered from April to June.

“I would like to play it safe and buy some more. It won’t be too much,” Banayo said.

The NFA is allowed to buy 1.3 million MT of rice from abroad. Of that amount, 200,000 MT will be brought in by the government, while 660,000 will be imported by the private sector.

The country consumes more than 13 million MT of rice a year, said a report quoting the US Department of Agriculture.

Strained finances

The NICA report said the biggest question was whether the Philippine government could afford the costs of importing rice, strained as it is with expenses incurred in repatriating Filipino workers from troubled countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The report said “there is a growing pattern of rice-importing nations already purchasing or locking up the dwindling supply of rice in the face of lower production of both rice and wheat.” This could lead to higher costs of imported rice, it said.

The report said Indonesia, which did not import rice in 2008 and 2009, started importing 1.08 million MT of rice late last year and early this year from two of the Philippines’ top rice producing neighbors—Vietnam and Thailand.

Indonesia plans to import a total of 3.2 million MT of rice this year, the report said.

Even one of the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh, recently entered into a rice supply deal with Vietnam.

Malaysia, the report said, had “quietly locked up” 800,000 MT of rice from Vietnam. South Korea is also importing rice from the same sources as the Philippines.

One of the most worrisome developments, the report said, was China’s purchase of rice from Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar).

“The actions of these other countries pose a great danger to our food security as there is a possibility that they will soak up the supply available for rice or if there would be remaining supplies, these would be very expensive,” the NICA report said.

Left behind

The report said the Philippines was being left behind by other countries. “(A)nd the danger of a food crisis in this country is reaching the point that is has now become an issue of national security.”

“What is more troubling is our very own weather is contributing to lower rice production,” the report said. Floods in the Visayas and Mindanao recently “while not significantly reducing potential harvests still add up to the shortfall for national consumption.”

The report warned that a shortage may open the door for “private traders ... to create an artificial supply-demand inequality that could lead to higher prices.”

The report said rice importation should be protected from kickbacks. A shortage will benefit only a rice cartel that continues to operate in the country, it said.

The report stressed the need for Mr. Aquino to require the NFA to submit a detailed report on rice availability and measures being undertaken to ensure supply. With a report from Kristine L. Alave

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...of-rice-crisis

[manlajay]

Strained finances

The NICA report said the biggest question was whether the Philippine government could afford the costs of importing rice, strained as it is with expenses incurred in repatriating Filipino workers from troubled countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The report said “there is a growing pattern of rice-importing nations already purchasing or locking up the dwindling supply of rice in the face of lower production of both rice and wheat.” This could lead to higher costs of imported rice, it said.

The report said Indonesia, which did not import rice in 2008 and 2009, started importing 1.08 million MT of rice late last year and early this year from two of the Philippines’ top rice producing neighbors—Vietnam and Thailand.

Indonesia plans to import a total of 3.2 million MT of rice this year, the report said.

Even one of the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh, recently entered into a rice supply deal with Vietnam.

Malaysia, the report said, had “quietly locked up” 800,000 MT of rice from Vietnam. South Korea is also importing rice from the same sources as the Philippines.

One of the most worrisome developments, the report said, was China’s purchase of rice from Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar).

“The actions of these other countries pose a great danger to our food security as there is a possibility that they will soak up the supply available for rice or if there would be remaining supplies, these would be very expensive,” the NICA report said.

So? ano na? Di ba kinansel na ang contract natin sa Vietnam ba yon dahil mas mataas daw yun sabi ni BAnayo /penoy? Ngayon mag iimport tayo sa anong presyo?

We are swimming in rice!!!!!....

Kung magkariot man,lahat na Pinoy pipila at magdala ng karayom itusok kay Banayo... ^_^

[kartero2002]

galing talaga ni administrator BANayO.

[boom_box]

We are swimming in rice!!!!!....

[aaroncm]

Dapat siguro mag bakasyon muna si Lito banayo. he is doing a bad job as an NFA Administrator. puro media stunt lang. haaay

[il migliore]

purgahin sa kamote yang hinayupak na yan

[shawsank]

shocks! akala ko ba we are swimming in rice...e bakit may balitang kulang ang rice and we need to import more and more and more dahil may shortage na raw tayo! gosh! these people in Penoy govt are bunch of ID1OTS!

[QT II]

See...I told you MARCOS was the last good president we had.

Now why are Vietnam and Thailand using their rice production to leverage their significance in the Asian geopolitical arena...while we Peenoys are reducing to blaming recurring flooding in our crop-growing areas?

What has happened to my proposal to have all illegal loggers EXECUTED by GUILLOTINE???

[absinthe_888]

NFA asked to explain rotting rice

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)
Updated April 27, 2011 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - A former Isabela congressman urged President Aquino yesterday to order National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Angelito Banayo to explain why his agency allowed a huge volume of imported rice to rot in its Western Visayas warehouses.

“Allowing rice to rot in the face of mass hunger is criminal negligence,” former Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, now vice governor of his province, said in a call to The STAR.

“The P-Noy administration could have given that rice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for distribution

to poor families,” he said.

The rotting rice is estimated to reach 10,000 metric tons or 200,000 50-kilo bags.

Albano said he could not understand why Banayo is preoccupied with importing rice when the NFA has apparently enough stocks that are exposed to elements in its warehouses.

“Why should we import more to the detriment of our farmers in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Iloilo, and other rice-producing provinces when we have supply that the NFA reportedly allows to rot?” he asked.

He said based on the assessment of agriculture officials, there is a bumper rice crop in Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Iloilo, the three largest rice-producing provinces.



“Mr. Banayo should not insist on bringing in more imported rice and enriching some rice traders-importers,” he said.

Albano added that Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has publicly chastised Banayo for his insistence on more rice imports.

Banayo: Demolition job

Meanwhile, Banayo expressed suspicion over what he said was an attempt to discredit him over alleged “rotting” rice stocks of the grains agency in Western Visayas.

He said the rice stocks in question in Western Visayas are “aging” stocks that arrived in the country in February or March last year and were contracted by the previous Arroyo administration.

Since those stocks are around 14 months “old” already, Banayo explained, the NFA had planned to bid out the old rice stocks to be re-milled and resold as commercial rice.

He clarified that he had never described the “aging” rice stock as rotting.

However, he admitted that some of the rice, including those described as “sweepings,” may be “unfit for human consumption” but could still be used for industrial or feed purposes.

The “aging” stocks, however, could not be sold earlier this year because the sale would have coincided with the summer harvest, which could affect rice prices.

Banayo expressed suspicion at the treatment of the story by another publication known to have connections with the past regime.

He stressed that he did not contract the “aging” rice stocks and that the “rotting” stocks disposed by the NFA were those that were imported in 2008 and 2009.

During the Arroyo administration, corrupt NFA and agriculture officials allegedly made millions of dollars in commissions from rice importation.

There was reportedly a commission ranging from $30 to $100 per ton of imported rice.

President Aquino himself had promised to expose those involved in anomalous rice importation.

In his first State of the Nation Address in July last year, he said the previous administration imported more rice than what the nation actually needed. – Marianne Go

[aaroncm]

PH posts highest ever palay harvest in first quarter
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:55:00 05/11/2011

Filed Under: Agriculture, Forecasts
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine agriculture grew 4.10 percent in the first quarter of the year on the back of strong crop output, including an “unprecedented” palay (unmilled rice) harvest, the Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

The rice sector expanded 15.63 percent to 4.03 million metric tons (MT) in the first quarter, “the highest rice volume we have seen since Filipinos started planting rice,” Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala told the media. “This was unprecedented.”

Agriculture’s expansion, although lower than the target of 4.5 to 5.5 percent, was a turnaround from last year’s negative growth and was the fastest first-quarter growth since 2004, as rains boosted corn and rice production, the agriculture department said.

Palay production was only 3.49 million MT in the first quarter of 2010 because of drought, data from the agriculture department showed.

Self-sufficiency by 2013

Alcala said the palay sector’s performance was a step toward rice self-sufficiency by 2013, a key midterm goal of the Aquino administration.

The increase in the production of the Philippine staple made it unlikely for the country to increase its rice imports to 860,000 MT, [just about a third of last year’s record volume of 2.45 million MT], the agriculture secretary said.

The country has become the world’s largest rice importer in recent years.

At current prices, agriculture output in the first quarter amounted to P347.2 billion, 12.72 percent higher than that recorded in the same period last year, the agriculture department said.

“We project even higher growth for the next two quarters that will put us on target as the programs and interventions show results in terms of still higher output and production,” Alcala said.

Crops, which expanded 8.19 percent, contributed heavily to the expansion of agriculture output, according to the agriculture department.

He said palay production accounted for 52.99 percent of the total farm output in the first quarter.

Despite the specter of stronger storms in the second part of the year, the agriculture department still expects palay production to hit about 17.46 million MT in 2011, more than 10 percent higher than last year’s harvest.

“We won’t be able to project how intense these storms will be, but we have factored them in the projections,” Alcala said.

Corn yield up

Corn yield grew 19.50 percent to 1.9 million MT, while sugarcane expanded 26.73 percent.

“Improved production performances were also reported for banana, cassava, cabbage and rubber. [Crops] grossed P206.1 billion at current prices and recorded a 26.69-percent increase from the 2010 level,” the agriculture department said.

Alcala said he expected crops to continue to post higher double-digit growth in the next three quarters, with peaks in the second and third quarters.

Bigger trading posts

The government will continue to help vegetable and rice farmers so they can sustain the growth, he said.

“We will increase the trading posts in the country,” the agriculture secretary said.

He said the government would build a bigger trading center in Benguet province, the country’s main vegetable grower.

“This trading center is four times bigger than the current one. It will be on a 4-hectare property behind the strawberry fields. We will also put up a processing plant,” he said.

Livestock, poultry, fishery

The livestock and the poultry sectors registered minimal growth and their values went down.

The livestock sector barely moved in 2011, posting a 0.59 percent growth. Its value declined 3.04 percent to P49.70 billion at current prices.

The poultry sector expanded 3.92 percent but its value went down 4.35 percent to P39 billion.

Of the four subsectors, only the fisheries industry declined. Output fell 3.49 percent. The subsector grossed P52.40 billion at current prices, 1.67 lower than last year’s.


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...-first-quarter


baka lalo tayong mag swimming in rice niyan. hehehe

Alcala said the decline in fisheries output was due to the damage sustained by the industry from the typhoons last year. Some fishermen also slowed down after years of overfishing, he said