Angara bats for 20/10 rice production program

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said a 20/10 rice production program should be the top priority of government to enable the country's farmlands to produce 20 million metric tons of rice by 2010 and achieve that elusive goal of rice self-sufficiency.

"A three-year inspired rice production program, drawing from the best of technologies and the long rice-growing tradition of our farmers , should be a priority program of government," said Angara, who as agriculture secretary carried out pioneering agricultural modernization programs.

Angara said that 20 million metric tons is enough for the national needs " plus a little surplus on the side for buffer stock purposes.

Angara said that the "tragic history" of importing rice, in which the state-run National Food Authority imports more than one million metric tons a year just to meet domestic needs, should end.

Angara said that most of the elements for an expanded and successful rice production are available, from irrigation-fed rice lands to hybrid seeds to production technologies.

What is missing, he added, is a program that would fuse all these elements like the Green Revolution agenda of the late Rafael Salas in the late 60s. Angara, then a young lawyer in private practice, was involved by the late Paeng Salas in that program.

Angara said that achieving rice self-sufficiency will not only end the embarrassing years of rice importation and restore the pride of the country's rice farmers. "It is a very pragmatic decision with real economic benefits", he added.