TRUTH FOR RICE AND FOOD SUFFICIENCY (BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE)

National government agencies are all up for show on the problem of rice shortage and escalating food prices. The rice crisis, unfortunately now spread to corn and meat, and many others. And Filipinos can only watch in vain on government's feeble attempts to arrest the onset of a food crisis, and waste public resources in the process.The Php 43+ billion promised for the current rice crisis is deceptive. This is not new or additional money on top of existing budgets, but are regular agency and project funds that already exist and had been programmed. Just look at the 2008 proposed budget for agriculture and agrarian reform, now at Php42 billion. The President's announcement of the FIELD's program is basically putting label to the items in the budget that have to do (even if slightly) with agriculture. This is a Houdini move designed to trick the senses, but all it entails is creative accounting and the stomach for lying. For the nth-time, the administration must be transparent and straightforward about the problem. In order to solve the food shortage and impending food crisis, real policies and resources are needed, not parades and speeches, and budget tricks.Millions of small farmers and fishers urgently need government's full support. The rice sector surely can benefit in the reform of the National Food Authority, not its privatization. Resources need to be rechanneled down to the local level, enabling LGU's to provide research and extension services; government financial institutions (GFIs) to provide credit; and dismantle the cartel of traders and financier's (usurers) that persistently exploit small farmers and fishers. Finally, instead of relying on imports, the country needs to reduce its vulnerability to global food supply shocks; it must return to rice and food self- sufficiency as a food policy.