Unpredictable Life

Senator Roxas urges unity in the middle of food crisis.

During the assembly of the local government of Quezon, local official join in national efforts to solve the current food price crisis. During the assembly Senator Roxas speech, he said “We should all unite in finding long lasting solutions to the prevailing global food crisis. And he asked to the local officials to share and emulate the success stories of other local governments and adopted them to solved the food problem.

Rice is a staple food in the Philippines. Almost every family in the country can live without meat or fish for weeks but not without rice. At present, the prices of rice have gone up so fast that average and marginalized Filipino families can hardly afford. The government had been saying that there is no crisis, but with the high level of price increases for rice and the importation from Vietnam and Thailand, it only shows that the rice crisis is forthcoming.

There is a global rice crisis looming. This may worsen the incidence of malnutrition in the Philippines. Pregnant mothers and newborn babies will be affected. Lack of rice may result in malnutrition which is common among children, pregnant women, and newborn babies found in urban poor areas. As we all know, rice is the staple food of the Filipinos which give us carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates, malnutrition will worsen.

“Millions of people could face disease, poverty, and hunger if Asia’s land becomes unworkable through changes in temperature, rainfall, or pest abundance.” This is a statement made by the World Health Organization. Global warming is indeed a calamity that will pose problems to men in the coming years if we don’t act now. The effects of climate changes will be hard to reverse in a short time. So please, we have to act now to avoid this calamity in the future.

I don’t know if you’ve heard the latest news about the rice shortage in the Philippines and the possible increase of its selling price per kilo to about 40 Php. Well, as usual the government is denying this especially the rice shortage. According to the Department of Agriculture about P22 million worth of rice a day are put into waste. Whew! In their own little way top food chain company in the Philippines is selling ½ cup rice to their customers.

I hope this issue will not be used to cover up the ZTE scam. As we learned in our Economics (The Law of Demand and Supply) that is if there is not enough supply and the demands are high – prices will increase. But, the Government still insists there is sufficient supply of rice. Yesterday, the farmers warned that there will be a price increased and rice crisis in the coming months in the middle of the awaited harvest. Ano ba talaga ate? He-he.