Agriculture secretary says the move was to ensure PHL rice sufficiency in the long run
(Eagle News) — Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol is slated to visit Papua New Guinea next month to “finalize an arrangement” that will allow Filipino farmers to plant rice there.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Piñol said President Rodrigo Duterte has given him the go-signal to make the trip that the agriculture secretary said would ensure the country’s rice sufficiency in the long run.
“We will be rice sufficient siguro for…10 years but as population grows, maoovertake ang rice production because limited ang rice farms natin. So I mentioned to the President the idea to find outsources for planting of rice by Filipino entrepreneurs and farmers,” Piñol explained.
He said Papua New Guinea was ideal for this considering the many hectares of land and rivers they have there.
He said the country only has a population of 8 million.
The idea under the “bilateral agreement,” Piñol said, was that the Philippines would also supply Papua New Guinea’s “rice requirements.”
“Anything in excess will be shipped to the Philippines as part of our rice supply,” he said.
“(Rice) shortage may not happen during my lifetime but this early we have to prepare,” Piñol added.