Panayam ni DA USec. Leocadia Sebastian
Panayam ni DA USec. Leocadia Sebastian
Transcript
00:00 Okay. Usec, despite the damage per wish that was imposed on the agriculture sector by the typhoon, how is the supply of rice now?
00:10 Based on our data, Aljo, our dry season crop is good.
00:23 As reported earlier, we produced 5.7 million metric tons of rice.
00:31 We also imported 1.9 million metric tons.
00:41 That's enough for our needs for the next few months.
00:47 We are also in the middle of planting and we expect that there will be harvest in August and September.
00:58 We have sufficient rice supply.
01:03 There are two reasons Aljo. As reported, the NFA has one to two days or one and a half days buffer stock.
01:17 That's the NFA's buffer stock, not the rice supply in the country.
01:26 The NFA's role is not like the past where they supply the rice we need.
01:37 Their buffer stock needs to be big.
01:40 Now their role is just for harvest. In case of emergency, the government gets the rice they provide in case of typhoon or harvest.
01:52 The NFA is maintaining a small buffer stock.
01:56 They don't need to maintain a big buffer stock because it's not like the past where they are the only ones allowed to import rice.
02:05 Now, the private sector can import rice.
02:11 The imported supply in the past month is big. I said it's 1.9 million metric tons.
02:22 Now we have local production of 5.7 million metric tons.
02:26 If you add that, we have sufficient supply until the next month.
02:35 What steps will the government take to manage the price and supply of rice?
02:48 Now, some countries, like India and Vietnam, will control their rice export.
02:54 Will the price of rice rise? How much will it rise?
02:59 I will clarify Aljo. Vietnam is not stopping the export of rice.
03:09 They are still allowing it. The truth is, Vietnam is still open to sell rice to us.
03:19 Their Prime Minister is offering to President Marcos that if we need rice from them, they are open.
03:29 Now, what's happening is, like what our President said, we need to prepare for the next months.
03:38 He mentioned that he's considering the government importation.
03:45 But the importation of the private sector is still ongoing.
03:48 That's why, yesterday, the President encouraged the private sector to increase the importation of rice to us.
04:00 What's happening in the international market is, the price of rice is rising.
04:08 That will affect our local prices if the price of rice in the international market rises.
04:18 Okay. Based on...
04:20 We are still making sure, like what our President said, we are still making sure that the rice ordered by our private sector traders will arrive.
04:32 Yes. Based on the previous report, the affected rice is only in the early stages. What does this mean Usec?
04:45 What this means is, when it's planted, it can recover even if it's homegrown.
04:54 It won't just sink for two or three weeks. If it's sunk for too long, the rice will die.
05:03 But if it's sunk for two or three days, it can recover.
05:09 That's what it means. If it's just a new plant and it was washed out, we can still replant it.
05:18 That's what's happening. Most of the damage to our rice is in the early stages.
05:27 Our classification is partially damaged.
05:33 Like what you're showing in the picture, Aljo, if it's not sunk for a long time, the rice can recover.
05:44 According to the report, it's possible that more typhoons will pass.
05:52 We are really being hit by typhoons in the Philippines. What is your preparation for this so that the planting and supply of rice in the country will not be affected?
06:03 Don't you have a plan sir to focus on the areas, especially in Mindanao, where typhoons rarely hit? We will plant there.
06:16 That's included Aljo. Actually, if it rains, almost all of our country plants rice.
06:26 We can plant rice in 2.8 million hectares. That's why our main crop is rice during the wet season when it rains.
06:37 That's what's happening. We also need typhoons. Don't let them hit us.
06:46 If there's no typhoon, and there's no rain, it's not good.
06:53 The typhoons can also help us fill up our dams for our planting when the LNEO arrives, our irrigated areas.
07:06 We saw in our monitoring that the irrigation and irrigation system is good. They are filling up their water.
07:15 But in Luzon, many areas were flooded and the dam was damaged.
07:23 What we are doing is a quick rehabilitation, a quick turnaround. If they are damaged, we give them rice.
07:36 If they can continue planting, they can plant rice again so we can have rice in November or early December.
07:48 In other places, in Visayas and Camindano, we are asking them to plant rice to ensure that their rice is good.
07:56 We need to balance the whole country. If we are hit, we can recover. We can do that in other places.
08:05 What is the detail in your plan, which is one million hectares for the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program?
08:17 How can this help to increase the supply of rice in the Philippines?
08:23 Our target is one million hectares. Actually, we want it to reach 1.5 million. It's better.
08:34 We have almost two million hectares that are irrigated.
08:42 So what we are seeing is to maximize our rice, especially in irrigated areas, we will invest our assistance in one million hectares.
08:56 We will plant hybrids, give them sufficient fertilizer and biopertilizer so we can increase the rice.
09:08 What we are seeing, Aljo, is that our strategy for the coming years is that our main harvest should be during the dry season.
09:21 Our main harvest should be focused on the dry season because there was no storm during that time.
09:26 It's also certain that the rice is good during the sunny season. If we can increase our one million hectares of rice,
09:35 we can save enough supply for our lean months, like July, August and September.
09:49 So we can reduce the supply. That one million hectares is fully irrigated.
09:55 I can see that if we can maximize that production, we can achieve our President's objective of having 97 percent sufficiency level by 2027 or 2028.
10:14 Based on the percentage you gave, Jose, how many metric tons of rice can this project produce?
10:23 That one million hectares, Aljo, if you add six tons, it's six million. If you add eight tons, it's eight million metric tons.
10:35 Our production during the dry season, our total is 8.7 million metric tons. If you add eight million to that one million,
10:49 you can add the remaining one million to other places. That's a big amount. We can reach nine to ten million metric tons during the dry season.
10:59 Or we can go higher.
11:05 If possible, what are the steps of the D.A. and the D.A. for the sustainability of this program, especially when it comes to changing the climate.
11:17 There are typhoons that are entering the Philippines every year.
11:23 Climate change adaptation is also important, Aljo. That's why I'm proposing that if we transfer our main crop to the dry season,
11:38 we can protect our production. Because now, when it rains, there are many typhoons and floods, our production is reduced.
11:51 During the dry season, we can maximize our production during the dry season. It's rare to have typhoons or floods during the day.
12:03 Our only enemy is the El Nino that comes every several years. But we can adapt to the El Nino because the rice is good during the El Nino, especially when there's water.
12:25 So the areas that have good water, we can maximize our production even during the El Nino.
12:31 The areas that will be affected by the drought, we can plant other crops like corn or mung bean or short duration crops that don't need a lot of water.
12:48 So the program we are doing is good because it is anti-climate change adaptation.
12:55 How about the rice self-sufficiency program? How is it?
13:01 That's what we want to increase. Right now, we're at 80-85. Our objective is to increase it in the coming time.
13:17 But Aldo, we are talking about agriculture. It cannot be done in one or two years. We are already there.
13:29 That's still a bit progressive development. We need to do a lot to achieve the goals of rice self-sufficiency.
13:42 Okay. Do you have more important information that you want to share with us? Go ahead Usec. Go ahead.
13:51 Go ahead. Go ahead.
13:53 Aldo and to our listeners. This is a rainy season. We have a lot of storms and a lot of water.
14:03 We need to maximize food production during this period. If we can plant vegetables, let's plant because we need to enhance food production during this period.
14:19 And the areas that were hit by the storm last year, Egay, we can ask for help from our Department of Agriculture if you want to replant rice.
14:36 We need to replant to increase our production. There are already ready-made assistance for our farmers.
14:46 And those who cannot plant rice because they have reached the end of their harvest in October or November, we can plant high-value crops,
15:01 either corn, monggo or other vegetables. Our Department of Agriculture has already prepared rice. We can also consult with our regional offices or local MAO or local agriculture office
15:21 to see when they can provide assistance. The Department of Agriculture is ready to help our farmers during this time.
15:33 Thank you very much Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Usec Gliocadio Sebastian of the Agriculture Department. Be careful.