High rice prices to last for some time: Experts
MANILA: Rice prices are likely to keep rising for some time as
production of the staple fails to keep up with soaring demand, the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.
The Philippines-based institute earlier warned of potential civil
unrest as governments struggle to provide cheap rice amid a sustained
rise in prices over the past two years to near-record levels.
“Longer term demand-supply imbalance is clearly indicated by
depletion of stock that has been going on for years, the latest edition
of the IRRI publication Rice Today quoted IRRI economist Sushil Pandey
as saying.
“We have been consuming more than what we have been producing and
research to increase rice productivity is needed to address this
imbalance,” Pandey added.
Just seven per cent of the annual global production of the grain, a
staple food of more than three billion people mostly living in the
developing world, is traded in the international market.
This was because rice was seen as a political commodity and
governments strive to maintain large stocks to guard against large price
swings, IRRI said.
The institute said it had convened a group of experts to draw up a
list of what could be done to solve the crisis and they agreed that
raising yields was the only long-term solution.
IRRI said the crisis was affecting both the urban poor as well as
rice farmers who farm small plots that cannot produce enough even for
their own family’s use.
“Although the current rising rice price was seen as beneficial for
farmers who grow a reasonable surplus that they can sell on the market,
poor farmers with small or no surplus and poor urban consumers will
continue to lose out if the price continues to rise,” it said.
Philippine Rice Research Institute head Leo Sebastian urged
governments to increase investment in agricultural research.
“(The) impact of technologies is a driver of increased rice
production, whether a country exports or imports,” he said.
“But everybody is saying that investment in agricultural research is
small or limited — and something needs to be done about this.”
AFP. |
