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Rice as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary is the small brown or white seeds produced by a grass plant that are a major food source in many countries, or the plant itself, which is grown in warm, wet places. In Asia, rice is part of every meal because it is essential in order to get energy that the body needs. Rice provides 21% of global human per capita energy and 15% of per capita protein as mentioned by Haefele et al. (2007). According to the International Rice Research Institute, in 2009, most of the countries that are part of the world’s largest rice producers are in Asia — China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan and Philippines. Behind the success of the production of rice are farmers who are passionate and determined to supply rice all over the world.
The farmers play a big role in agriculture; without their efforts and productivity, access to food would be a problem. In the Philippines, the number of farmers is expected to decrease in the future due to the lack of interest of the new generation. Alave (2011) mentioned that the farmers are getting old and the average age of farmers is 57; most of the children of farmers are not interested to follow the same career path that their father had. The annual income that farmers receive is 20,000 pesos which is not enough to support the needs of the family especially if the family is a big one. Given the knowledge that farmers exert a lot of effort in cultivating not only rice but other crops as well but the salary is not sufficient, younger generations especially those who come from a family of farmers prefer to take other careers to find a way out of poverty. Farmers do not directly sell their crops in the market because the current system in the Philippines is relying to middlemen on the marketing or selling the crops that they harvested (Alcala, 2011). Farmers are not given credit on the rice production and they would usually be dictated by the middlemen on how the agreement of price works, middlemen receive the credit on the production of rice because of the label that is given to the product.
The Philippines is facing a major problem in terms of producing rice due to the typhoons that are experienced in the country. On 2006, the impact that the Typhoon Durian left in the Bicol Region caused the rice fields in the Province of Albay to be destroyed due to massive landslides (International Rice Research Institute, 2007). The knowledge of people that typhoons cause damages in the agricultural sector can lead to price increase in a form of market manipulation (Pinol, 2018). The market takes advantage of the situation for them to release a false information as a way to increase the prices of the products or crops that are said to be destroyed. Thousands of crops are actually destroyed when a typhoon is experienced in the Philippines but the price that the middlemen offer in purchasing crops from farmers does not increase which is not a valid reason to raise the price of the products in the market.
The price of rice in the Philippines increases as time passes by. A kilogram of a wholesale regular-milled rice on 2008 was sold for only 23.19 pesos; after a decade, the price increased less than twice the price of rice 10 years ago (Imperial, 2018). The Center for Global Development conducted a research in 2009 regarding the reasons behind the price increase on rice, the reasons were mostly caused by the government due to the failure of securing adequate amount of rice, low buying price for domestic rice during dry seasons which results in low stock and the decision making of the National Food Authority (NFA) in destabilizing local and global market. The market is the only one who is getting the benefit on the increase of price in rice, farmers do not overcome poverty even with the increase on price of the rice they produced. Most of the people in the Philippines who experiences poverty are mostly those who work in the agriculture sector (Liacco, 2014).
Numerous challenges and problems are faced by the farmers in the Philippines at the present time which was also experienced by the farmers in the past generations, the issue regarding the farmers has been a cycle and the extreme poverty of families has not been solved. The government, who has the power to decide for the country, should take an action in fixing the unjust system in the Philippines. Fixing the system in the Philippines in terms of the marketing of the products would be a great help not only for the producers but for the consumers as well because the pricing of products will not be taken advantage of. The farmers deserve to receive the credit for their hard work and dedication in producing rice in the Philippines. The younger generations might also develop interest in agriculture if the system has been changed. People should continue working and improving the agricultural sector especially rice because rice consumption is increasing. From 2000 to 2014, the Philippines consistently have been more of a consumer than of producer of rice (Exconde, 2018). A lot of Filipinos are experiencing hunger due to the shortage of rice. The poverty and hunger should come to an end and it would only be possible if the government takes a big action in solving the issues in the Philippines.
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