Critical Essay

Critical Essay: “We Produce but We Ranked the
Import” An Irony of the Philippines as

Agricultural Country
By: Agustin, Elijah Clark L. International Studies (Int’l Relations and Diplomacy Track
Culture, Society, Ideas and Innovation 5/10/2023
Question to be Resolved: “If agriculture is developed in the Philippines, then historically speaking,
we are into farming, isn’t ironic the current situation that we are the top importer of rice
globally?”
Philippines has always something to offer in a global stage, I believe you reckon agricultural
sector as something that the Philippines can boast of, we export banana, apple, oil, vegetable waxes etc.,
(Statista, 2022). We are an agricultural country expanding with a land of almost 30 million hectares, rich
with land, and resources according to (Atilano, 2017). Thus, is it not a blessing living in a country where
farming is still viewed as something that provides support and a backbone of those in rural areas?
Nevertheless, in our status quo it is quite ironic and contradictory as we are into farming, we produce
agricultural products, and raw materials, which should be expected that we would no longer rely on much
of imports. Unfortunately, agricultural sector faces major problems, especially on rice to which a Filipino
meal cannot be completed without it however, the ‘importation’ as a sub-solution due to high prices of
Filipino rice, remains detrimental to the farmers and the country. The burden is not only in the
government, but on stakeholders, the consumers, and upon our local farmers. Hence, have you ever
thought that if agriculture is really developed in the Philippines, and policy makers are integrated in our
locale farmers, then why the country topped the rice importer globally?
As featured in the recent study of USDA “Grain World Markets and Trade” (2023), the
Philippines was the current ‘world’s top rice importer’ in the 2022-2023, which measured almost 3.9
million metric tons of rice, it even surpassed China with 3.5 million metric tons. It is the irony we are
dealing with now, considering we ranked as 8th largest mill producer in 2018 (Global Yield Gap Atlas),
there was a continuous increase in import, but why do we have to do so? As we extremely feel, the price
escalates which can be rooted due to major problems including farmers’ capital, tariffs, land conversions,
programs for modernization, climate change/natural disasters, and lack of prioritization. We are pushed to
import as to fill the gaps in shortages caused by phenomena, including disasters (Bloomber, 2023),
however our local farmers heavily suffers whenever imports arrive, because they are forced to sell their
‘palay’ harvest at an exceptionally low prices to compete with imports. Regardless of these issues, I argue
that we can still present solutions to prioritize the production in the Philippines, which can be incorporated
to government support, zero tariffs to our local industries, liberalization policies, regulation in rice prices,
and mechanization. Furthermore, the Philippines is not there yet in the summit of development, the latter
is not always seen positively, it somehow adversely affects the poor, and they become poorer and
powerless therefore, the rich become richer. Development is not always rooted on social change, visions
and aim on improvement, voiceless and marginalized are lagged into the decision-making, only by
learning from the poor and favoring-scale individuals can help unlock the potential of local groups. It is
only if we empower and let them work along with powerful, can make them feel more capable, providing
opportunities and bringing them into decision-making process can resolve their grievances, and if we give
platforms to make them participate, they are able to take command of their affairs, and the confidence to
achieve more of their own priorities.
Overall, there are gaps in our agricultural sector, and substituting the import as a short-term
solution remains a detrimental burden to our government, local farmers, stakeholders, and consumers. It is
in fact, a blessing and an advantage to rely on our own resources as a labeled agricultural country, we give
the biggest export, and we are into farming but it is somewhat a dismay that in return we also import what
we have especially for topping the import in rice, that would provoke competition with our local farmers’
harvest. Nonetheless, we can still prevent this to happen if we see development as something
improvement, rise in level and quality of life we should also see development as having repercussion,
while gearing towards progress, there are those left behind and unseen, to rethink and redefine
development it also denotes how empowered your people are, and how a country responds on issues and
their measures. We can do so much on our resources, it is a matter of planning, concretizing the blueprint,
prioritizing the basic needs of our manpower in sectors, and an active biased support for our local
products, it demands nothing that is beyond us, only support, efficient and effective action.

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Critical Essay: “We Produce but We Ranked the

Import” An Irony of the Philippines as

Culture, Society, Ideas and Innovation 5/10/2023

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