Aquino: No looming rice crisis amid world food supply problem

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija – President Benigno Simeon Aquino III on Wednesday belied reports citing a government intelligence agency that the country is in the throes of a rice crisis. In an interview with Malacañang reporters here, President Aquino said both the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency (NICA) and National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia have denied issuing statements regarding a supposed shortage in rice supply. “NICA said there is no looming rice crisis. They answered that yesterday and today… The NSA also said that they didn’t send that particular report," he said. “They reviewed all of the material roughly around that period, and both of them said they never said such a thing." On Tuesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer cited a NICA report stating that the rising costs of basic commodities and services in the country and a shrinking rice supply have become a national security concern. The report further said that one of the possible flash points being watched by the local intelligence community was the supply and prices of rice worldwide. President Aquino described the report as “alarmist" although he admitted that there are “pressures" on the world food supply, citing recent events in other countries that may have a serious impact on the supply. “There are really pressures on the world food supply. Sa Russia, nagkaroon ng sunog, affected ang wheat. Sa Brazil, nabawasan ang kanilang production ng asukal. Indonesia, na hindi nagi-import ng bigas, nagi-import (na). Maraming other examples. Bottomline, talagang may pressure on food prices," he said. (There are really pressures on the world food supply. In Russia, there was a fire that affected the supply of wheat. In Brazil, their production of sugar was reduced. Indonesia previously does not import rice, now they’re importing.) “Yung magiging kakulangan sa Japan, yung kaguluhan sa Middle East, lahat ito may pressure. For example, wheat is used for bread, tumaas ang presyo, lumilipat mula trigo nagpupunta ng bigas. Yung mga tao nagshi-shift so tayong mga traditional na bigas ang kinakain, nagkakaroon ng dagdag na pressure, may kaagaw tayo," he added. (Even the events in Japan and Middle East put pressure on the supply. For example, the price of wheat, which is used for making bread, increases. So many people will shift from bread to rice, which means bigger rice consumption.) Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala has already assured the public that there will be enough rice supply throughout the country. He blamed the release of the report on rice cartels, which could have been hurt with the decision of the government to distribute the importation of rice to other traders rather than allow cartels to corner the contracts. Compared to last year’s dry season harvest of 6.6 million metric tons of palay, the government is expecting a harvest of at least 7.6 million metric tons of palay in the first semester of this year or a 15 percent increase in harvest, he said. Alcala said that the projected cropping for 2011 is 17.46 million metric tons. He further said that the 860,000 metric tons of palay the government will be importing for this year will be enough for the country’s consumption. - KBK, GMA News