The government is seeking close to 100% rice self-sufficiency in five years following President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s approval of the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP).
The President, who concurrently heads the Department of Agriculture (DA), disclosed the government target during a Rice Industry Convergence Meeting in Quezon City on Wednesday.
“This convergence meeting, I think, has given us a good roadmap to follow, but marami pang mangyayari d’yan between now and our goal of having a 97.5-percent self-sufficiency in rice,” Marcos said.
Mr. Marcos said the government does not have “to be 100%” and that 97.5% is “a good enough number.”
The President explained the remaining 2.5% is for the other necessary niche products. He also encouraged all the stakeholders to stick to the roadmap, which he described as a “good plan” that could enable the country’s agriculture sector to surmount any roadblocks that lie ahead.
At the same time, the President expressed elation over the conduct of the convergence meeting “to listen to the suggestions and the presentations that are being given.”
During the meeting, the President spelled out measures that could aid the development of the agriculture sector, increase productivity and elevate farmers’ economic status.
Among these measures are convergence, establishing more cooperatives, adopting mechanization and new technologies, as well as digitalization. He said the national government will be making use of new technologies in the agriculture sector to attract young people to go into agribusiness and farming.
The chief executive said it is also important to continuously innovate and mechanize the systems in farming to draw the youth into agriculture. The President said the average age of Filipino farmers is around 56 to 57 years old.
Stressing on digitalization, Mr. Marcos said: “Digitalization is the one part that I think, again, that’s the area where I’m hoping we can attract younger people back into the business, into the agricultural sector.”
“Let’s make it as easy for them as possible and make it as attractive as possible for younger people. Digitalization I think is going to be
part of that.”
There are around 2.58 million farmers, out of the 7.46 million farmers enrolled in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture
(RSBSA), who are engaged in rice cultivation.
The DA is also preparing measures to respond to El Niño including early rice seed distribution, distribution of drought-tolerant
planting materials, promotion of crop insurance, and irrigation scheduling.
The top five highest rice-producing regions in 2022 were Central Luzon at 3.62 MMT; Cagayan Valley, 2.93 MMT; Western Visayas, 2.32 MMT;
Ilocos Region, 1.96 MMT; and, Bicol Region, 1.33 MMT.