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Apr 9, '08 10:35 PM
for everyone

I'm not much of a rice eater, but living with a house full of workers we probably consume about one sack of rice a week.

My mom's having a hard time ordering rice right now. She said the price of rice has risen twice over the week. She's called all her friends and our relatives. One is selling a sack for 1,500 pesos, our aunt (who owns a stall in a public market) is selling hers for 1,800 pesos. Rumor says that a sack would cost 3,000 pesos in a few week's time.

I don't think there is a rice shortage at the moment. People are just getting greedy and hoarding the sacks out of greed and paranoia. It's mass psychology at work. The rice crisis is a self-fulfilling prophecy that is slowly coming true.

Mom's thinking of sending our workers out to buy NFA rice. It's cheaper (18 pesos per kilo versus 35 pesos selling in the market). But you have to line up pretty early in the morning (around 5am) to buy the rice (shop closes at 10am). Each buyer can only buy up to two kilos of rice. There are cops (or soldiers) standing guard, making sure that everyone gets a fair share of the NFA rice.

I don't know if this rice problem would fix itself soon. But I hope the government would do something to regulate the price of rice...

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5 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

senseimiyaki wrote on Apr 9, edited on Apr 9

Rice is such a political commondity. Here in Japan, the subsidy is so much that a kilo costs PhP 200! So when I cook rice, I have to put them in microwaveable single serve containers so that I have zero wastes. It is so sad to read all these in the newspapers about a make believe rice crisis. In its own time, I hope it will resolve itself because hoarding means keeping stock up costs high while new rice stocks become available.

archer7 wrote on Apr 10

This "rice shortage problem" would have never happened if the Department of Agriculture would get off their lazy asses and get our rice fields to have rice again. I just came from Baguio the other day and was planing to visit the Rice Terraces and the local tour guides were even the ones who discouraged me to go say it would be a waste of time and money. This should be a sign to the people and to the government saying that we can't get what we want just by sitting down we have to work.

slvrdlphn wrote on Apr 10

Have you tried Makro yet? I don't know exactly how much rice costs now because we just bought a 10-kilo sack last month and since then we have been buying at the corner store at P26 a kilo (I think).

slvrdlphn wrote on Apr 10

That's not completely fair, Mark. It isn't the Department of Agriculture who plants the rice, it is the rice farmers. And the rice farmers cannot plant as much as we need if they do not have adequate supplies and fertile soil.

It is a chicken and egg story.

And while we spend time pointing fingers at each other, the rice shortage issue does not get addressed. As I was telling a friend of mine a while back, it is time to stop talking and start DOING.

archer7 wrote on Apr 10

slvrdlphn said

Hear hear! Which ever side one person decides to blame is his/her opinion, but Penny is right Action must be taken, no i'm not saying we should take to the streets and rally in EDSA like we do in every nation crisis. Rather there are several ways that an individual can contribute to help in a small way i.e. eating less rice in a day leads to budgeting you sack of rice to last longer. Then the cost of rice does not affect you that much because you have time to save up before you buy again.

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