The government’s bid to ensure food security got a big boost after a rice variety that can survive flooding was discovered recently.

Senator Manny Villar, president of the Nacionalista Party (NP), immediately lauded the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) on their discovery as he vowed to focus attention on farmers to improve rice production, so that the country will be self-sufficient and does not have to import rice.

“We used to export rice to other countries, now we are the biggest importer of rice. The government has been postponing the country’s rice self-sufficiency targets. We should stick to these targets and be rice self-sufficient soon,” said Villar.

IRRI recently announced that the Philippines would be the first to try submergence-tolerant materials that will produce new rice hybrids such as “sub1 or submarine rice” that can withstand being submerged in flood for weeks. There is also the so-called “aerobic rice” that can be planted in mountainous areas and does not need much water or irrigation.

Villar finds it ironic that the Philippines is leading the discovery of these new rice varieties and yet so many Filipinos are still experiencing hunger because they cannot afford to buy rice.

The Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey also showed that 41% of Filipino families or an estimated 7.5 million consider themselves as Food-Poor while 35% put themselves on the Food-Borderline and 24% consider themselves as Not Food-Poor.

SWS said that Self-Rated Food Poverty rate has steadily risen from 36% in February, 39% in June, and 41% in September of 2009 after declining from 42% in December 2008. The number of families who put themselves on the food-borderline slightly declined from 33% as well as those who considered themselves as not food-poor, which was 28% in the June 2009 survey.

Villar emphasized that the next administration should support local farmers in using the new varieties of rice to increase their rice production and for the country to avoid spending too much on rice importation.

The discovery of the new varieties of rice, according to Villar, is also very timely since the country is still reeling from the effects of the recent typhoons. “We are all aware of the damage that storms “Pepeng” and “Ondoy” brought in Luzon, which is the country’s so-called ‘rice bowl.’ The rice crops of farmers, who were supposed to harvest already, were destroyed,” said Villar.

Villar is pushing for government to extend financial assistance and credit line facility to farmers to help in their expenses particularly in fertilizers, which are really expensive.

Villar has also previously filed Senate Bill 1897 that aims to end the monopoly in rice importation and to allow farmer cooperatives and organizations to handle these to increase their income.