According to International Potato Center regional director for Asia Samarendu Mohanty, being an island nation, along with its population growth, makes it difficult for the Philippines to become rice self-sufficient, as it has limited arable lands compared to major rice-producing countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.
“The Philippine yield is very good. The growth rate in the last two decades has been very good, one of the highest in the world. The problem is the conjunction growth has exceeded your population growth… The Philippines is an island nation. Your limitation is in terms of how much land you can bring into production. That’s the major constraint in the past four to five decades,” he said.
“I don’t think you’ll be self-sufficient, with the population growth you have. You still have to address it through imports. And if you address through imports, then you have this uncertainty that you are facing now,” Mohanty added.
He may have a point, as the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the country’s self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) in rice fell to 77 percent last year from 81.5 percent in 2021. Based on historical data, this is also the lowest in 24 years, when the SSR for rice was at 72.1 percent in 1998.
Although there are efforts to raise local production through quality seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation, Mohanty said the Philippines also needs to look at the constraints which it cannot address.
According to him, an option the country can look at to meet its rice self-sufficiency goals is to invest in lands in other countries, a practice being done by other nations like India for a number of commodities like rice and soybean.
Despite being a goal for many administrations in the past, the Philippines has yet to come close to rice self-sufficiency. As we weigh our options given the current situation, our government officials have to be able to come up with the possible pathways towards that goal. If we cannot improve the production of the country’s arable lands, using any means possible, then we might have to consider being dependent on importation, or being creative and looking outward, investing in land in other countries through public-private partnerships that can guarantee a more secure rice supply for Filipinos.*
