The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), a research and development arm of the Department of Agriculture, said that Filipinos waste approximately P7.2 million worth of rice every year.
PhilRice Deputy Executive Director Karen Barroga said that every Filipino is wasting a daily average of two tablespoons of rice, totaling almost 384,000 metric tons per year. “That would be costing around P7 million (a year) which could feed 2.5 million Filipinos,” she added.
Citing town fiestas as an example, Barroga urged the public to only get rice that they could consume in order to minimize wastage.
Hazel Antonio, PhilRice Development Communication Division head, said that there are already 46 ordinances for the implementation of serving half-cup rice in food establishments to mitigate waste. She also revealed plans to revive Senate Bill 1863, or the “Anti-Rice Wastage Act of 2013,” a bill filed by then-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. seeking to impose fines on establishments that refuse to serve half-cup rice orders.
Such a law is hoped to standardize the practice, which could save the country from wasting so much of the staple, despite having not enough of it, as evidenced by its recently increasing prices.
The country celebrates National Rice Awareness Month every November, which according to the PhilRice website, has the goal of increasing public awareness regarding efforts to achieve rice self-sufficiency and minimize rice wastage.
The Filipino people need to do more to reduce food wastage, especially when it comes to something as important as rice. Now that it has been brought to our attention, being more conscious of the fact that we are wasting almost 400 thousand tons of cooked rice every year might help, but if we all make a more conscious effort to minimize that particular waste, less people could go hungry and such efforts might even make a dent in making our nation more self-sufficient when it comes to our staple food.*
