Presyo ng gaso, walang habas sa pagtaas. Pamasahe, gusto itaas.

Ang bigas, magiging P40/kilo na? Huwaw!........



Journal.Com
24 Mar 2008


http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?...ec=1&aid=53644





RICE may cost P40 a kilo by end of April this year -- as against the current P31 a kilo -- if the Philippines fails to import rice that will fill up the needed 20 percent demand for the staple, administration Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri warned yesterday.

Normally, the country gets the needed 10 percent rice supply through importation. But since palay harvest in the Visayas was devastated in recent months due to heavy rains in Bicol and Eastern Samar, the country needs to import an additional 10 percent.

He noted that the country is experiencing disaster in rice production due to the following reasons: shrinking ricelands due to conversions into housing and industrial sites; climate change; no clear cut guidelines on food production; and corruption.

“There’s a crop failure so kailangan mag-import to satisfy the demand. Magiging P40 a kilo kapag hindi mo ma source out 20 percent (of the nation’s rice demand),” Zubiri said in a briefing.

But since Vietnam, one of the top rice exporters in the region, has stopped exporting the staple, the government is looking at Cambodia. “Cambodia has a small population but a good rice producer,” Zubiri said.

Asked whether the rice crisis may lead to rice rationing, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said: “Huwag naman sana. Sa tingin ko naman lahat dapat magtulungan. Ang gobyerno dapat magsabi ng totoo para magkatulungan. Pero dapat huwag din tayo mag-over react dito.”

He lamented that the Arroyo government has no political will to address the problem. “Kung disidido ang gobyerno na mapigilan ang problema, mapipigilan ‘yan katulad ng pagsugpo nitong rice cartel,” Villar said.

He also sent this appeal to suspected rice hoarders: “Sa atin pong mga involved sa negosyo ng bigas, sa mga panahon na ganito, mahalaga na huwag natin masyadong isipin ang kita. Sa akin mas malaki ang problema kapag nagkaroon ng malaking deficit sa bigas.”

Zubiri intends to conduct a Senate inquiry into the rice crisis. He wants to know how many farmlands have been converted to industrial or housing use in the last 10 years.

Likewise, he needs to know whether climate change is part of the problem. “Is it affecting rice production. Does that mean we need to change cropping season? Until now umuulan pa rin sa Bicol. We may have to move our planting pattern from June to July,” he added.

Meanwhile, opposition Sen. Francis Escudero scoffed at the “half cup of rice” per meal recommended by Agriculture officials saying that the current rice crisis “is not wasteful consumption but inadequate consumption.”