In the wake of rising rice importation and the influx of cheap food items due to the country accession to several free trade agreements, Makati Mayor Jejomar C. Binay urged Saturday an aggressive and thorough review of agricultural policy.

Binay cited that the National Food Authority (NFA) imported 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) of rice, while the total agricultural output last year grew by an insignificant 0.37 percent while the population growth rate hit 2.36 percent.

“What this means is that for the past several years, the government has not improved farm yield modestly so much so that it has to blame climate change and the typhoons for the disastrous performance,” Binay explained.

The Makati mayor, also the vice presidential candidate of the United Opposition (UNO), expressed disappointment why rice yield continues to lag in spite of the P43.7 billion that government has plunked in for the food production program.

Binay noted that the administration has failed to stop the steady reduction of farm land, arguing that the loss of about 50,000 hectares of fertile land for other purposes would contribute to chronic food crises.

“It’s tragic that the more we convert land planted to rice and other crops into plantations for the foreign market, the higher is the rate of our food importations,” Binay noted.

Binay also expressed concern over the pending food crisis in the wake of the country’s accession to several free trade agreements, all of which reduce the tariff on imported food items, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement that starts this year and the accord for tariff-free trade with China.

He batted for a food policy that addresses higher farm yields through the development of better-yielding, more nutritious rice, better infrastructure, including farm-to-market roads (FMRs), post-harvest equipment, and irrigation facilities.

“The reason farmers are reluctant to be more efficient is the import-led food policy of the government, using the argument that there is practically a constant 10 percent annual rice production deficit,” Binay said.