Towards self-sufficiency or self-reliance: the Philippines' future strategy for strengthening food security in rice and corn
1997
Tiongco, M. | Sombilla, M. (International Rice Research Inst., P.O. Box 933, Manila (Philippines). Social Sciences Div.)
The top priority in the development agenda of many countries including the Philippines remains to be the strengthening of food security. In many Asian countries this is equated to making available at all times the major staple food which is rice. This has been achieved by promoting self-sufficiency whereby domestic production is raised to meet domestic needs. However, various economic changes taking place in the international market prompts the need to evaluate the self-sufficient policy. The paper attempts to determine the extent the Philippines will have to promote self-sufficiency in its two major staple foods, namely, rice and corn. It analyzes the market prospects of these commodities globally and relates them to domestic demand and supply trends. The study indicates that future food policy in the Philippines should now be geared towards promoting self-reliance in rice and greater production of corn where potentials are still not fully exploited. Some recommendations to achieve these include the stronger focus on technology research to further improve farm productivity and develop farming systems that would be both profitable and environment friendly, encouragement of agricultural investment to enhance productivity potentials of some areas and adoption of price and import policies that would help allocate resources properly and enhance competitiveness in domestic production
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