By DANNY O. SAGUN

FOR seven years now, the country has been importing rice to augment the local produce.

Now, that’s a sad reality considering that the Philippines is mainly a rice-producing country with a research facility exclusively devoted for rice production. Foreign students and researchers came here to gain knowledge. Now those Thais and Vietnamese students who had trained here might be laughing at us. These countries are producing more than what their people need and therefore can afford to sell their excess to us.

There are several factors why this country has failed to be self-sufficient in rice, the country’s main staple. The absence or lack of irrigation facilities renders cropping only once a year, that is, planting is done only during the wet season. And many irrigation facilities are on the state of disrepair.

Big tracts of land are converted into either residential, commercial or industrial zones. Farmer families are a diminishing breed too. Other high-value crops are taking the place of rice because of their prohibitive prices .

Most farmers stick to their traditional farming ways and systems no matter how government technician’s keep prodding them to shift to new and modern techniques. Well, farmers may have their reasons for sticking it out with their time-tested methods since not all modern techniques turn out well; there are backlashes as in the case of the genetically-altered corn variety.

Population is also exploding rendering any increase in rice production (reports said we have bested even exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam as far as production increase is concerned) practically nothing. Yet, it is interesting to note that there are more populous nations than the Philippines which do not seem to have problems about their staple food.

We think this nation can reverse the situation and return to its position as rice exporter or just achieve self-sufficiency. How? Build more irrigation systems. Pour more funds to agricultural concerns. Convince farmers to shift to modern techniques. Do away with corruption. Work efficiently sans media glare and photo-ops. Keep a delicate balance between agriculture and other concerns with the scale tipped to favor the former.

We can only suggest. Ultimately, it is up to the government to move and arrest this impending crisis if it is not already gripping us.