Circle the wagons

Bunker mentality or Pinoy “abilidad”? Consider these news reports: (a) DA eyes changes in rice self-sufficiency and (b) NFA allots P5.1 B for palay procurement.

The Philippine rice industry is uncompetitive. What to do? Not a knee-jerk to deliver activity but not outcome. It highlights the absence of foresight and explains the 1-% phenomenon. How? Like the rest of the world we can’t on a dime shift away from the logical yet linear and incremental thinking that built Western higher education. And why we worry about AI, for example.

While those in the innovation game see it as a powerful tool. That’s too far out for PH. And that’s the problem, like the rest of the world, the 1-% has left us behind. [What we direly need is to figure out the building blocks of prosperity instead of prescribing a system of government, for example. And invite an Apple manager to show us the “Apple Way”: (a) at the macro level and (b) to make our export products globally competitive.]

More to the point, innovation and competitiveness demands a heavy dose of foresight. And why the 1-% schooled in foresight development, e.g., “model thinking,” will dominate. They can relate the building blocks of an enterprise to the object, e.g., competitiveness.

Why is Juan de la Cruz yet to learn progress and development? Hint: learning is discovery [calling our millennials] not a top-down process, especially in the absence of a national collective wisdom to impart like a Singapore. And so, generation to generation we keep replicating tried and failed approaches. For example, the swagger that is skin deep we admire – in Du30 (and now also the DA and NFA?) for the paternalism it bestows – is why we can’t: (a) overcome leader-dependency, (b) our inward-looking instincts and worse, (c) it breeds tyranny, i.e., political patronage and vested interest (aka oligarchy.) To be sure, we created a larger local economy than our neighbors but fell flat on our face with our inability to compete beyond our shores.

In a democracy, the people must be active participants, beyond the system of government, by exercising the check-and-balance inherent in a democracy. Simply, transparency, foresight and leadership especially in these teachable moments – when we can accelerate progress and development – are what we must demand. We don’t need another “Malakas” (as in Marcos or “Maganda” as in Imelda.)

Let’s start with transparency. We have the International Rice Research Institute right in our backyard, how have we leveraged this resource? In the same manner that we never accepted and learned from the Asian Tigers, we never accepted and learned from the IRRI. When a simple google search will bring us to the doorsteps of IRRI.

There is where the problem lies. We are not predisposed to change. And until we understand and accept reality, we will waste one generation after another – and still be the regional laggard. There is no free lunch, with apologies to Ciel Habito. [When the writer was still in his shorts, he heard RM’s “Que sera, sera” many times over especially following Pinatubo. It didn’t occur to him that is the core of our mindset and our culture?]

What say you, IRRI? “The Philippines cannot be competitive by enhancing the rice production system alone. Parallel efforts should be made to improve its marketing system to be able to compete globally. To do this, milling efficiency should be improved. This can be done by breeding varieties with similar grain shape and length and with high head rice recovery. Also, farmers should be encouraged to plant fewer varieties as most millers complain about having too many varieties, which makes processing costlier.

“Mechanizing the drying of paddy can also minimize the high percentage of broken rice and improve the overall quality of milled rice. Improving the transportation infrastructure and facilities, including the handling systems, can further reduce marketing cost. Cutting on the labor cost through mechanization of loading and unloading can reduce transport cost. In addition, road widening and creating bypass roads (e.g., those in the outskirts of key cities) can encourage investments in more efficient modes of transporting grains. Revitalizing the railway system can be another long-term means of enhancing transportation efficiency.

“Increasing competition among local market players can lead to reduced margins. This can be done by establishing wholesale paddy markets like those existing in Thailand. The creation of these markets will eliminate assembly traders and agents and their margins as well, and consequently reduce overall returns to management. The National Food Authority (NFA) is in the best position to handle this function. The NFA does not necessarily have to procure the paddy, but they can provide facilities to establish the wholesale paddy market. In addition, they can provide custom services to both farmers and traders such as weighing, drying, and temporary storage. They can also make marketing information transparent to all players.

“Another way to increase marketing competition is to open the rice marketing system to foreign investors, thereby giving farmers more choices in the sale of their produce. Their entry could bring fresh capital into the market and improve competition with the large domestic marketing players who have a sizeable market share. This is an option that can be studied further.

“International competition is both a challenge and an opportunity for the Philippine rice industry. It has both positive and negative effects. If the Philippines decides to embrace a more liberalized rice trade (e.g., removal of QR while maintaining tariff), rice imports will increase and domestic rice price will decline to mirror the cheaper price of rice in the world market. The poor consumers consisting of but not limited to fishers, landless laborers, corn and coconut farmers, and the urban poor will benefit from the more affordable rice. The lower price of rice can also contribute to the further development of the industrial and service sectors. Cheap rice eases the pressure to increase wages, thereby, encouraging entrepreneurs to expand and hire more workers.

“On the other hand, cheaper rice means lower prices for rice farmers and processors. This could adversely affect their income if they will not adjust. The analyses provided in this book tried to show the things that could be done to improve competitiveness both at the production and marketing levels. Moreover, the change in price can also encourage producers to venture more into rice-based farming systems and other agriculture-based enterprises that can give them better household income than when they engage solely on the rice monocropping system.

“For the past 20 years, protectionism did not lead to an improvement in the competitiveness of the Philippine industry; it was rather lulled into complacency. The country cannot expect new results if the same policy directions continue. It must face the challenge of liberalization head-on and take the necessary steps to improve competitiveness because it is now a matter of survival.” [Competitiveness of Philippine Rice in Asia; Bordey FH, Moya PF, Beltran JC, Dawe DC, editors. 2016. City of Muñoz (Philippines): Philippine Rice Research Institute and Manila (Philippines): International Rice; Research Institute. 172 p.]

How short-sighted do we want to be – to demand swagger from elected and appointed officials? That is no leadership. But that is what we deserve for deferring to hierarchy while expecting paternalism in return. It is a self-reinforcing drive to mediocrity – and a race to the bottom for PH.

Consider: “The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking at changes in the computation of the country’s rice self-sufficiency level, saying that the one used by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is not accurate.

“Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said the department is now in talks with PSA to thresh out some of the components in computing rice self-sufficiency.” [DA eyes changes in rice self-sufficiency,  Louise Maureen Simeon, The Philippine Star, 15th Jan 2018]

And this: “State-run National Food Authority (NFA) is allocating P5.1 billion for its palay-buying program nationwide to boost buffer stock and rice distribution requirements.

“Last year, NFA failed to meet its local procurement target following higher prices offered by private traders of up to P25 per kilogram compared to the buying price of the agency at P17 per kilogram. The agency was only able to purchase 587,748 bags or 19 percent of the target.” [NFA allots P5.1 B for palay procurement. The Philippine Star, 15th Jan 2018]

Do we appreciate how limited our perspective is against the backdrop of global competition? Does it explain why: (a) we’re the regional laggard (b) this writer and his contemporaries lived through two wasted generations?

We didn’t do anything either. We were contented cows after attaining the Juan de la Cruz dream. Community and the common good be damned. Remember our value of family? We forget that charity doesn’t end there. And why every nook and cranny of the bureaucracy is teeming with graft and corruption. As the Swiss would say, we are a self-disciplined people; any system of government will work.

With due respect to the clergy advocating a system of government, it is personal conversion that Juan de la Cruz needs, not (a) something extraneous or (b) the self-righteousness of Padre Damaso.

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]