RICE IMPORTATION KAILANGAN PA RIN

February 22, 2023

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National News

Malabo pa raw makamit ng Pilipinas ang pagiging rice sufficient sa susunod na dalawang taon.

Ito ang sinabi ni Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian sa isang pahayag. Kontra ito sa sinabi ni Pangulo Ferdinand Marcos Jr., kamakailan.

Ayon sa opisyal, kailangan daw muna itong balansehin dahil kailangan pa din umangkat ng bigas para sa mga institutional buyer.

“We cannot prevent importation as we have Japanese restaurants, Indian restaurants that need a special kind of rice. The target of rice self-sufficiency is good, but we need to balance it. Otherwise, the farmers will be affected if there is an oversupply. That is why our target is between 95 and 96 percent sufficiency, to ensure better farm gate prices for our farmers,” ani Sebastian.

Kamakailan, inaprubahan ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na mas palawakin ang pagtatanim ng hybrid rice upang makamit ng bansa ang pagiging rice self-sufficiency sa 2025.

Ang hybrid rice ay isang uri ng bigas na mas malaki ang naibibigay na ani kumpara sa conventional inbred rice.

Naglaan din ang DA ng 3 hectaryang expansion para sa pagtatanim ng hybrid rice.

“Our program does not only focus on production. We also need to consider the value chain. We need to provide assistance until after the harvest to make sure that the farmgate price of palay will not go down,” dagdag ni Sebastian.