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RP rice production up by 12% in 2009 - DA
By PATRICIA DE LEON, GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture expects the country to produce 19.53 million metric tons of palay in 2009, a 12.7 percent increase from the projected 17.32 million MT harvest of the grain this year. The announcement came as local consumers struggle with surging prices of imported varieties of the grain. It also came as the country’s rice program agency angles for a four-fold increase in its operating budget in 2009. The Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Rice Program is operating on a P2.631 billion budget this year, while it is gunning for P10 billion in funds for 2010. The country was expected to have produced 16.24 million MT of the grain in 2007, data from GMA Rice Program director Frisco Malabanan showed. The data was presented during a roundtable on food security hosted by the University of the Philippine-Los Banos on Monday. In 2007, 90 percent of the rice consumed in the Philippines was produced locally, while the remaining 10 percent was sourced from abroad. This made the country the top importer of the grain for that year. Surging prices of the grain in the world market is putting pressure on the government to hasten its goal of achieving rice self sufficiency. "We have to go for self-sufficiency. In the past it was cheaper to import, but that is not realistic anymore considering the world supply for rice is tight," Malabanan said. The Philippines is working toward 92.3 percent rice self-sufficiency by 2008, before it moves to 100 percent sufficiency by 2010. World rice prices are surging in tandem with other commodities like wheat, corn, soya, and hard commodities like steel and oil. - Patricia de Leon, GMANews.TV
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