25 April 2025

“Why Exactly Is The Philippines The World’s Top Rice Importer?” IRRI – “Poor Geography.” FAH – “Poor Economics”

Daniel Padilla of Esquire Philippines writes that the reason my country remains Asia’s top rice importer (image from youtube.com) – it lacks what other rice-exporting countries have: “lots of land and river deltas suitable for farming.”

Mr Padilla is quoting from “Why Does the Philippines Import Rice?” an IRRI book published 2004 and edited by David Dawe, Piedad F. Moya, and Cheryll B. Casiwan. (esquiremag.ph) Their answer: “Geography.” What? “The Philippines imports rice because it is a nation of islands without any major river deltas like those in Thailand and Vietnam.”

I’m a pure-blooded Filipino, farmer’s son and UP Los Baños graduate, and I emphatically do not agree with such conclusion. I believe the Philippines imports rice because our farmers are poor farmers – because of technology!

Yes, we Filipinos grow rice almost exactly like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar – following steps more-or-less approved by IRRI – following Chemical Agriculture (CA). The lesson that my country refuses to learn is that the Philippines should change its rice culture from the expensive CA to the inexpensive but even-more-productive Regenerative Agriculture (RA).

Under RA, there are no expensive chemicals or pesticides used – and yet yields are quite high. That’s because the rice and other crops grow as they would in a field naturally enriched by allowing crop refuse and weeds to contribute their natural richness to the soil.

No, the reason why the Filipinos import rice is not because of corruption, incompetence, bad politicians, or laziness. It is because of poor thinking!

I now dare IRRI to disprove the claim, via the results of its own experiments, that any of the following 13 practices of RA is productive and richly-rewarding to the farmer:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

If our farmers practiced RA, they would produce rice more than our domestic needs, even for export. And: as a side-effect of RA, little or no greenhouse gases that gather up there and contribute to Climate Change!

Mr Padilla writes:

“Is there any way to lessen dependence on imports without further raising prices and harming poor consumers?” the book asks. “One possibility is reduced population growth, but this debate centers on issues larger than rice self-sufficiency. The best way to sustainably increase production is to invest in agricultural research and transportation infrastructure, thereby providing farmers with more and better options in both production and marketing.

“However, the fundamental factors behind Philippine rice imports – relatively small amounts of land and a lack of large river deltas – can’t be changed. In trying to achieve self-sufficiency, the Philippines is fighting a battle against nature that its exporting neighbors are spared.”

This Filipino begs to disagree! It’s not lack of large river deltas – it’s poor technology! I dare IRRI and UPLB experts to conduct experiment with RA, and I’m sure they’ll change their minds!@517


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