Wasting rice
Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc. |
NINFA R. LEONARDIA
Editor-in-Chief & President | CARLA
P. GOMEZ Editor
CHERYL CRUZ
Desk Editor
PATRICK PANGILINAN
Busines
Editor
NIDA A. BUENAFE
Sports Editor
RENE GENOVE Bureau
Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising
Coordinator | CARLOS
ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer |
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala recently revealed that the Philippines loses about one million tons of rice every year due to inefficient post-harvest facilities. Based on our rice imports of 500,000 and 850,000 metric tons for 2012 and 2011 respectively, that estimated figure is bigger than the amount of rice we import every year.
Alcala is asking the private sector to invest in post-harvest facilities and equipment like dryers, mills and silos to reduce rice wastage in the country. He believes an efficient post-harvest system would help the country to be less dependent on imports, increase farmers’ output, and ultimately improve our food security.
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization notes that Filipino farmers are among the least mechanized in the region, using only 0.5 horsepower per hectare, the equivalent of one small electric fan. Filipino farmers rely heavily on manual labor in the land preparation, planting and harvesting stages. Drying and milling machines used in post-harvest are often inefficient, resulting in huge losses.
Considering a separate report by the International Rice Research Institute a couple of months ago that says the eating habits of Filipinos result in the waste of an estimated 308,000 tons of cooked rice every year, we are wasting too much rice for a country where so many go hungry everyday. From gross inefficiencies at the post-harvest stage to poor storage practices in government warehouses and our wasteful eating habits, the amount of rice we simply throw away as a country is mindboggling.
We cannot take this information for granted. The government, as well as the private sector, has to make a conscious and collective effort to improve our post harvest efficiencies by harnessing machinery and technology to reduce unnecessary waste. As for the consumers, we have to be more conscious of the way we waste rice in our everyday lives. Rice is our staple food. We cannot continue being so wasteful of something that is so important to us.* |