Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Since time immemorial, rice has been the staple food of more than half of the world’s population. Countless products from snacks to drinks, out of this crop, are being consumed worldwide daily. More than one-third of our populationis directly dependent on this crop for their livelihood. Roughly 32% of our arable land is planted to this crop.
Yet, the immediate past director-general of our Philippine rice research institute (Philrice), Dr. EufemioRasco Jr., is ironically telling us why rice is not good for us! It is almost blasphemous to the revered commodity. It should be made clear though that what is referred to here is mainly the white rice, or polished roice
After hearing of the topic, I asked myself, “What has happened to this guy, a highly respected Filipino agricultural scientist”?
Dr. Rascois not your average “good scientist”. He served as director of the Institute of Plant Breeding in U.P. Los Baños, the definitive crop improvement institute in the entire Philippines. He pioneered the breeding of tropical vegetables in the country and some of the varieties of vegetables such as tomato and bell pepper,that he developed has been planted not only in the Philippines but also in many other Asian countries. He helped the biggest seed company in the world dealing with tropical crops, set up its presence in the Philippines and in Asia. While administering U.P. Mindanao as a chancellor, he continued his agricultural research activities and even pioneered research work on the neglected nipa palm. Already an author of some books, he is coming up with more books based mainly on his extensive experiences.
The muli-faceted scientist had steered Philrice to new heights for about four years. What then prodded him to say, rice is not good for you? Let’s see some of his arguments.I do not fully subscribe to all of them but they make a lot of sense.
1.For the nation, rice production is contributory to maldistribution of wealth, environmental degradation, poverty and other society problems. Therefore, rice is not a good basis for food security. Rice needs a lot of water, more inorganic fertilizers and chemicals to produce it.
While farmers are toiling so hard, they are not getting richer but actually poorer.
2.To an average rice farmer, rice farming is not a good source of income, not good for health , not good for household food security. It makes average farmer “poorever”. We have higher production cost, higher consumer rice prices as compared to others even in the ASEAN region. It benefits mainly the rice traders and inputs producer. It consigns farmers to an eternal tutelage of labor, not ever rising from economic woes.
Dr. Rasco suggests that to counter the above, rice farmers should diversify what they are planting and that there should be a new system of food production. For this, the government should play an aggressive and pivotal role
3. To rice consumers, too much rice can cause health problems therefore rice is bad for consumers’ health. Glycemic index (GI)of white rice is higher than many commonly eaten food such as cassava, camote, corn, banana, brown rice and even sugar itself. GI is a measure of speed at which glucose reaches the bloodstream.
Rice has been linked to diseases of modern civilization: heart failure, hypertension, stroke, arthritis, obesity, osteoporosis, gout, cancer, ulcer, etc. Because of this, eating rice more than what is required would mean more expensive health care cost for farmers and consumers.
Dr. Rasco asks, “If rice is so bad, why do we eat it”? He answers his own question. There is no choice. It is relatively cheap, convenient, our parents did it, and we are addicted to it. Addiction, but not of course the punishable type?
He continues to ask, “If rice production is so bad, why do farmers continue to grow it”? No choice, land is only suitable for rice. Rice farmers may know no other skills. But, he hastens,
“Better little income than nothing, for household food security”
We, Filipinos are eating too much rice actually contributing to obesity. CAR for instance, belongs to the top three regions with obesity problems. Thanks, but no thanks to rice? While global per capita rice consumption is only 65 kg (and decreasing), we are consuming 119kg (and increasing) per year.
Rasco is recommending less rice, more of the others. This should be better for farmers and consumers alike. IDI (Intensification, diversification, integration) Strategy, according to him, should be considered to make farmers profit more, consumers to become healthier, and for the nation to become more food and economically-secured.
We eat brown rice so it will be good for us.**
