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THE
country may achieve self-sufficiency in rice production
halfway into the term of the next president or by 2013,
President Arroyo said Tuesday.
In her
opening statement at the Cabinet meeting, Mrs. Arroyo
also assured the people that the country has enough rice
stocks for its present needs and would only be importing
more to augment its buffer stock when prices and
conditions are “acceptable” to the government.
“The new
economics of global food security now make it imperative
that we control our own destiny in terms of rice. We are
taking control of our food supply. We are working with
all levels of government in our country, multilateral
agencies and our other development partners and with the
private sector to achieve rice self-sufficiency by
2013,” she said.
The
President said long-term efforts to promote rice
self-sufficiency would break Philippine dependence on
“expensive” rice imports.
At
present, she said, the country has secured its rice
requirements for the year, and that “further imports of
rice will be made when prices and conditions are
acceptable to expand buffer stocks.”
Mrs.
Arroyo reiterated that the government would exhaust all
measures “to ensure access to supplies of rice at fair
prices.” “We will do everything in our power to
stabilize and lower prices and to crack down on rice
cheats,” she said.
She said
that so far, authorities have filed charges against 73
traders and the regional directors of Regions 5 and 10;
the National Food Authority provincial managers in North
Cotabato, Camarines Sur and Misamis Oriental; and the
assistant provincial manager in Misamis Oriental. |
