Rice crops hit by El Nino in Philippines
GLT
Published on: February 18, 2010 at 06:10
Catholics should help the growing number of hungry Filipinos this
Lent, says Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, reports CathNews
India. Manila is importing as much as 2.4 million metric tons of rice
to plug the production shortfall from damages of typhoons in the last
quarter of 2009.
“We appeal to you to support Hapag-Asa (table of hope) in its efforts
to care for hungry and malnourished children of our parishes,” the
cardinal wrote in his Ash Wednesday message.
“It costs 10 pesos (US$0.22) a day or 2,400 pesos to feed a hungry
child once a day, five days a week, for a year,” the prelate said.
He recommended they donate money saved from fasting during the 40-day
preparation for Easter to the feeding program.
Hapag-Asa has fed more than 500,000 Filipino children nationwide in
the past four years.
Hunger is on the rise in the country due to a variety of factors
including a rising population, the conversion of farming land to other
uses and climate change issues.
The proportion of families who reported experiencing involuntary
hunger at least once in the last quarter of 2009 hit 24 percent.
Social Weather Stations, a private research institute http://www.sws.org.ph/,
in its January report estimates the figure translates to 4.4 million
households.
Gemma Rita Marin, Executive Director of Rural Development Program of
the Jesuit-run Institute on Church and Social Issues says hunger
prevails even as government reports economic growth because many
factors influence hunger.
Land use and effects of climate change had lowered food production,
she said.
“There are areas supposedly for food production that are converted to
residential areas and other non-agricultural estates,” Marin told UCA
News.
Manila is importing as much as 2.4 million metric tons of rice to plug
the production shortfall from damages of typhoons in the last quarter
of 2009.
On top of that, the government estimates damage to rice crops from the
El Nino effect would reach 12 billion pesos.
In its latest monthly El Nino bulletin the Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration listed two rice-
growing provinces in northern Philippines as the worst hit by the dry
spell.
Apart from Hapag-Asa there are 300 parish-based cooperatives and
Caritas Manila’s brand outlets selling rice at controlled prices.
Religious groups have also joined farmers’ advocates and economists in
protesting the conversion of agricultural lands to commercial or
residential estates.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman yesterday [Feb. 16] told
reporters the Department of Agriculture (DAR) has been converting
“alleged agricultural land” for residential use to address housing
needs as “our population continues to explode.”
Advocates of farmers’ rights criticize land conversion as a tool for
landowners to evade land reform and make farmers poorer and hungrier.
Courtesy: CathNews India