Containing the C-RICE-SIS: Official Statement of the CSSP Student Council

For the past weeks, we have seen the dramatic surge in the prices of local commodities, particularly that of rice, our country’s staple food. The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics recently stated that the price of Well Milled Rice (WMR) has rapidly increased from last week’s 30.64/kg to its current price of 32.18/kg. Furthermore, last year’s original price amounts to only 24.14/kg, hence indicating a sudden increase of 35.68% within the year. These numbers have translated into increased alarm and distress among the people, particularly among those who live with meager salaries and limited access to resources. Manifestation of such has been observed from private groups who dazedly hoard stocks for their own benefit, to families who continually crowd markets, in hope of availing cheap NFA rice. These, along with other imminent setbacks from the agricultural sector point that indeed, a problem exists – a point of conflict, which, if not given necessary attention, may lead to further political turmoil and deep social unrest.

The problem, although wide in scope, may principally be rooted in the ineffectiveness of our local institutions to carry out correspondingly viable solutions. While we acknowledge the far-reaching adverse effects of some global phenomena such as climate change and increased consumption, we must also highlight the problems of our local agricultural sector. The inadequacy of irrigation systems, the lack of commercialized rice seedlings and the alarming decrease in the number of fertile lands continue to persist. Moreover, the government’s inability to strengthen the NFA results to the perpetuating collusion of private companies, who monopolize the rice industry. These problems remain unaddressed mainly because of the fact that the agricultural sector, up to now, receives insufficient budget from the government.

We, the CSSP Student Council 2008-2009, believe that measures should have been taken to lessen the grave impacts we are suffering as a consequence of this rice shortage. On the local level, agricultural policies should have been implemented properly not only to sustain our domestic needs for food but more so to ensure the welfare of our farmers. Consequently, we call not only for a comprehensive agrarian reform program but ultimately, for a genuine agrarian reform law – one that will best serve the interests of the farmers rather than that of the landlords, who for years, have resorted to desperate ways to maintain hold on their properties. Also, government agencies must be sufficiently empowered in order for them to actually carry out their respective functions. Globally, we urge the government to review and evaluate existing trade agreements, along with the country’s current status with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. National interest must be the core consideration of our legislators, not the selfish motives and interests of the few.

The problem is not simply about having less food to eat, nor is it just about lacking a basic commodity; the problem is about how this issue has pervaded through the social, cultural and economic spheres of our society. As students of a college that prides itself in its long tradition of critical thinking and active involvement, we ought to take the crucial first steps towards awareness and participation. From the simplest deed of finishing our food, to the act of calling for a more responsible government, we can respond to the issue. By simply recognizing our roles as scholars for the country, we can make a difference.

¹ Bureau of Agricultural Statistics <http://www.bas.gov.ph/amsad_price1.php>

Rice Against the Crisis!

The University Student Council believes that the present crisis on rice production demands for immediate, sustainable pro-people solutions. The government should immediately increase its support to the National Food Authority (NFA) in its procurement of palay, dismantle the rice cartels and impose a crack down on illegal acts of price manipulation, implement a moratorium on the land-use conversion of agricultural land, and increase its investment in the agricultural sector, all for the benefit our local farmers and the Filipino people.

NFA, at present, is importing rice because it has persistently failed to perform even its minimal procurement of 12% of the total palay production. NFA has only procured less than 1% of palay production in the last cropping season, leaving most of the tradable rice into the hands of big rice traders, particularly the so-called Big Seven cartel who now dictates the price of rice in the market. The reduced role and intervention of the NFA in the rice market allows private traders to control the trade both in inputs and produce, thus influencing the movement of prices in trade and marketing of rice.

We must resist impositions made by international creditors like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to bring down rice tariffs, increase food importation and pursuing reforms to liberalize trading in the country’s main staple by not subsidizing the agricultural sector. Policies of globalization on rice, i.e. trade liberalization (allowing rice imports), privatization (clipping NFA powers), and deregulation (lifting of government production and price support), which the government started to implement in the 1980s, has worsened the state of food security, not only in the Philippines, but in the rest of the world. Such schemes of deregulation also lead to the oil cartel which continues to manipulate and bloat the prices of oil products. To the youth, such policy of liberalization has also lead to the increasing commercialization of education by reducing the government subsidy to education.

Rice production remains small-scale and productivity is low. Philippine average rice yield per hectare is stagnant. Since the 1990s, the country’s rice yield has averaged at 3 metric tons per hectare even as it records yearly increases in production. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the required production for the Philippines to sustain food security is 5.4 metric tons per hectare. This situation is even aggravated by the increasing instances of conversion of rice farms to commercial uses and conversion of crops from rice to export winners, which has put the country in constant state of crisis in its rice supply. Landlessness and the absence of government support through production and price subsidies leave millions of Filipino rice farmers at the mercy of big land owners and traders. That is why for a long-term solution to this predicament, a genuine agrarian reform must be implemented.

Furthermore, the government has practically stopped subsidizing local agriculture for decades, and can be seen from the meager budget allocations received by the agricultural sector. We see the same trends with the increasing budget cuts that UP and other state universities in the country that has lead these universities to resort to different commercialization schemes and to increase in tuition. Worse, the funds intended for these sectors and other social services are being drained off to corruption.

The increasing inaccessibility of our basic staple and of education has made the lives of many Filipino youths and their families harder and the opportunity to make their lives better difficult to reach. With the increase in the price of rice, other basic needs will relentlessly increase in cost, thus making the lives of many Filipinos increasingly more difficult.

The chronic crisis that the Filipinos at the grass roots level and even the middle-class has been experiencing is simply a manifestation of a grave failure in leadership under the Arroyo administration. If such demands and solutions to the rice crisis are not met immediately, it is only imperative for the youth and the rest of the Filipino people to continue the people’s urgent call for the removal of Gloria Arroyo from office.

Fight for greater state subsidy for education and agriculture!
Attend the “RICE Against the CRISIS” Forum on April 30! Alcantara Room, 2nd floor Vinzons Hall, 1 PM
Join the Labor Day Mobilization on May 1! Assembly at Quezon Hall, 11 AM

Sources:
Asian Development Bank
Ibon Foundation
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
World Bank

(Prepared by the University Student Council’s (USC) People’s Struggles Committee under Councilor Fudge Tajar with inputs and reports from other members of the USC).