Nacionalista Party president Senator Manny Villar vows to focus attention on farmers to improve rice production, so that the country will be self-sufficient and does not have to import rice. This, according to him, would also address food security of Filipinos.
    
“We used to export rice to other countries, now we are the biggest importer of rice. The government has been postponing the country’s rice self-sufficiency targets. We should stick to these targets and be rice self-sufficient soon,” said Villar.
   
Villar lauds the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) on their discovery of rice varieties that can survive flooding, salinity, and drought.
   
IRRI recently announced that the Philippines would be the first to try submergence-tolerant materials that will produce new rice hybrids such as ‘sub1 or submarine rice’ that can withstand being submerged in flood for weeks. There is also the so-called “aerobic rice” that can be planted in mountainous areas and does not need much water or irrigation.
   
Villar finds it ironic that the Philippines is leading the discovery of these new rice varieties and yet so many Filipinos are still experiencing hunger because they cannot afford to buy rice.
   
The Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey also showed that 41% of Filipino families or an estimated 7.5 million consider themselves as Food-Poor while 35% put themselves on the Food-Borderline and 24% consider themselves as Not Food-Poor.
   
SWS said that Self-Rated Food Poverty rate has steadily risen from 36% in February, 39% in June, and 41% in September of 2009 after declining from 42% in December 2008. The number of families who put themselves on the food-borderline slightly declined from 33% as well as those who considered themselves as not food-poor, which was 28% in the June 2009 survey.
   
Villar emphasized that that next administration should support local farmers in using the new varieties of rice to increase their rice production and for the country to avoid spending too much on rice importation.
   
The discovery of the new varieties of rice, according to Villar, is also very timely since the country is still reeling from the effects of the recent typhoons.