Interesting article on how important rice is to the Philippines. https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desk...px?pubid=50435180-e58e-48b5-8e0c-236bf740270e I know over the last few years the price of rice has steadily gone up until recently. This hurts the poor in particular as so much of their diet depends on rice. There is a 35% tariff on rice imports to protect the local farmers, but the land is being bought up for businesses, so what is the point of protecting farmers anymore? In addition, this protectionism is actually hurting the poor the most. There are a lot more poor people than farmers, so while I understand the idea of self sufficiency, I'm not sure it is worth doing on the backs of the poor. I'm sure there is a significant amount of corruption in the rice business, too. They are poised to increase importation limits. This seems like a good thing to me. We don't make things in the US anymore because they can be produced cheaper in other places. I think the PI should remove tariffs and limits to importation because of how important rice is to the poor populace. Thoughts?
Eating as much rice, especially that trash white rice, as some of the poorer Filipinos do is very unhealthy. Making it cheaper is not the solution. Making other, healthier, foods cheaper is what you do if you give a crap about the poor. I'm not sure if there is a sales/VAT on basic food items in the Philippines, but if there is there really shouldn't be.
Rice is the staple because it is cheap, even with the tariffs and market protections. I have to believe if there was something cheaper out there they would be eating it. I don't think there is too much concern in the PI for the poor, even so, why not let them have their cheap rice. No one is going to take a loss or give away food so they can eat healthier. Maybe if the rice was cheaper they could buy some other foods to supplement their diet.
That's fine, but let's not act like anyone gives a d*mn about them if the plan is to continue to stuff that crap rice down their throats.
It beats the alternative, which is starving. Crap rice or nothing seems like an easy choice. It sounds like you know something could could replace the crap rice with at the same cost point. What would that be?
Just did a little checking. Rice is the staple for more than 50% of the world. It appears that white rice does have some very good medical benefits and by some studies is even healthier than the much acclaimed brown rice. It does appear that the country's demographics have much to do with the consumption of rice. The more wealthier a Nation becomes, the less rice becomes a daily staple. It is fastest growing in Africa and now in Latin America, while some countries that one typically associates with rice (Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea) consumption is on the decline. But to say as some do that it is "crap" does not appear to be a realistic assessment. Just my opinion, along with some other published works. I guess it all comes down to the old adage, "Moderation in everything is best."
For billions of people rice is a staple and not because it's cheap alternative to potatoes (or other starches); it is cultural. Countries like Korea and Japan, locally grown rice is not cheap but they are eating it 3 times a day since they were toddlers. Cheaper alternatives are milled corn (the wife calls it corn rice) and the variety of banana that they boil. You can find better quality of rice in the Philippines it just costs more. Folks will continue to eat rice if they can, the less they have the lesser quality of rice they will buy.
Are you kidding me? You're going to tell an Asian that he / she shouldn't eat rice?! Good luck with that one. I agree that in an ideal diet, there's no room on your plate for rice. But poor locals eating rice is far better than the crap which poor people in the U.S. eat. Inflation? Doesn't everything go up in price most years? From the information I have come across, the best thing for poor countries to do in farming is to become better educated on increasing yields as well as leveraging improved technology. This would increase supply and drop prices. Small loans might help with this as well.
