Let them eat condoms, (3)

HEADLINE: Aquino warned of rice crisis

The impending rice crisis is a monumental tribute to our country's misdirected economic policy over the years. But what are we doing now?

Why oh why have we come to a point where we cannot even produce our own rice when we undoubtedly have untapped resources in labor, land, and expertise. The report says NFA recently ordered from Vietnam 200,000 MT at a cost of 4 BILLION, even as plans are in the offing to buy and additional 800,000 MT to compensate for the local production shortfall. Why are we allowing a shortfall to happen? We even taught Vietnam how to plant rice and yet we now find ourselves importing from them. In an agricultural country like ours, rice production can the largest employer of unskilled labor in the rural economy. This can lead to countryside development. We can also save our money by not importing rice. It can also be an engine of economic growth. It is a no-brainer. Instead we allow our agricultural lands to be converted with impunity. We allow our fertilizer funds to vanish into thin air. We allocate billions to dole-outs. All these and more, even as we do not invest enough effort and funds in the rice self-sufficiency program.

The rice self-sufficiency program suffers pitifully from attention and lack of funds, but guess where our legislators and top officials want to spend billions of our taxpayer's money instead. Hint: You can't eat rubber.