There are 105-million Filipinos residing in scattered islands, the total land area of which is 343,448 square kilometers. Not all of these islands are cultivable to food and other agricultural crops. But we are surrounded by waters teeming with marine life.
Taiwan is one big island, plus a few small ones, with 23-million people. The terrain is more mountainous than the Philippines, and all included, land area is only 36,197 square kilometers.
Comparatively therefore, our country is almost ten times the size of Taiwan, with five times its population.
Yet Taiwan does not import rice, and although it exports very little of the staple, it is self-sufficient. One reason for that is its lower per-person consumption of rice. In the Philippines, the per-capita rice consumption is around 130 kilograms per year. In Japan, it is 67 kilograms; in Taiwan it is slightly more.
Why is this?
We eat more rice because viands are not plentiful and not cheap, as compared to our per-capita incomes. This is especially felt by our teeming poor. Despite being surrounded by seas, fish is expensive. Meat is for the middle class and up; the poor, especially in the countryside, get to taste meat only every now and then—a fiesta, a family celebration. Diets are protein-deficient so carbohydrate consumption (read that as rice mostly) makes up for it. Vegetables are expensive as well, unless you grow them in your backyard.
Taiwan, our nearest neighbor, is richer by far, though 50 years ago, the Philippines was economically better off. So let’s look at other Asean countries—Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia.
I won’t bore our readers with statistics, which I have cited in previous articles. A few days ago, I was a visitor to the Taoyuan Agri Expo, and was first ushered in to the Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand Pavilion. Taoyuan is the site of Taiwan’s International Airport, and is an agro-industrial city). The four Asean countries are the focal points of the New Southbound Policy of Taiwan.
While the pavilion was conceptualized to give exhibit goers an idea of the culture of Filipinos and the other Southeast Asian people, the display gave a stark contrast in what we have achieved—and not achieved—in our efforts towards self-sustainability compared to our close neighbors.
Part of the display were the countries’ agricultural harvests such as spices, coffee, rice and other grains wherein they ranked each country according to its yearly production or contribution to world supply.
Indonesia, with its huge labor force and land area dedicated to agriculture, topped the other countries in terms of production. This despite lagging behind in the use of agricultural machinery and technology, which Thailand, in contrast, has managed to capitalize on efficiently.
Among the four countries, Indonesia leads in the production of rice and cereals (but still imports rice because it has to feed 261-million people out of a land area three times bigger than the Philippines). It has become the number-one contributor to world supply of coconut (for more years than I can recall, the Philippines was number one in coconuts) and palm fruit.
The Philippines which has the least rice production among the four countries ranks eighth in global production, which unsurprisingly is dominated by Thailand and Vietnam. (Incidentally, the National Food Authority accepted the bid offers from these two countries for the planned rice importation of the government.)
The good news is that we rank first in the supply of Manila hemp, our indigenous abaca. But that’s about it, and the volume of production is quite small, abaca having been substituted in many uses by nylon.
Maybe our agriculture policy makers should take a look at other high value crops to substitute for the fixation on rice self-sufficiency, such as coffee, cacao, fruits, and start modernizing our farm lands with the latest machinery and technology. Taiwan is willing to assist our farmers develop their technical know-how.
Also housed in the expo was an array of farm machines ranging from cultivators, planters, seeders, weeders, harvesters and grain dryers meant to maximize output and ease the work load of farmers. One of the technologies on display which may be of very big use to our own farmers is a furnace dryer that utilizes rice husk to take away moisture from the rice (we have some at the NFA, but more are needed).
In all the greenhouses showcased at the expo, farmers make use of mobile phone apps to monitor temperature, humidity and soil conditions and control the irrigators and watering systems remotely.
But what is amazing is Taiwan’s initiative to come up with such an expo on a yearly basis, continuously assessing their agricultural capabilities as against their neighbors and the rest of the world, most probably to find out where they could improve and lead in terms of production. There is no end to innovation.
This despite the odds facing them, a limited land area to devote to agriculture and an aging work force, where the median age for farmers is 62 years old.
Taiwan has been generally open to migrant workers, but the need is more pressing for the agricultural sector now, with government opening work visas to fill the emerging gap.
Others would say, this again is an opportunity for us to “export” our workers, our own farmhands to work Taiwan’s fields, to further release steam from the boiling cauldron of unemployment in our country. This early, I can see the workers lining up.
But shouldn’t we be doing all these here in our land?
If only we can provide a level playing field for our farmers so they can cultivate their lands and maximize their yield, then we can give ourselves a fair chance at achieving food self-reliance and sustainability.
