[ journal.com.ph ] March 30, 2008
BUTIL party-list Rep. Leonila Chavez has appealed to the government to stop the conversion of premier irrigated farmlands into subdivisions and factory sites, saying that this is one way to ensure rice and food production.
“The Philippines is better at producing rice than most countries in Asia. The problem is the recklessness of the conversion of irrigated rice lands into housing; commercial and factory sites. This has decimated the premier lands devoted to rice,” Chavez said.
To date, the Philippines has barely 2 million hectares of fully irrigated rice areas left.
According to Chavez, the unabated conversion of A-1 rice lands into housing, factory and commercial sites is most felt in Central Luzon, which was considered as the “rice granary of the Philippines.”
She lamented that shopping malls and housing developments have been built in former rice fields in Central Luzon and major developers.
Meanwhile, Chavez has proposed the implementation of a crash rice production program patterned after the Green Revolution.
This program will enable the country to produce 20 million metric tons a year, which is enough to supply the domestic needs and the remaining to be put in a buffer stock, Chavez added.
She then expressed opposition to rice importation, which she described as “flawed policy” because it is costly and palliative.
The solon said that with adequate credit, irrigation, hybrid seeds and extension support, the country’s remaining 2million hectares of prime rice lands can be used to produce three crops per year. Jester P. Manalastas
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