No. 97 Food Security and the Threat From Within: Rice Policy Reforms in the Philippines Bruce Tolentino JANUARY 2006 With Compliments Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Singapore This working paper is part of a series of studies on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia. It has been produced under a grant from the Ford Foundation, for which the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies gratefully acknowledges. The Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) was established in July 1996 as an autonomous research institute within the Nanyang Technological University. Its objectives are to: • Conduct research on security, strategic and international issues. • Provide general and graduate education in strategic studies, international relations, defence management and defence technology. • Promote joint and exchange programmes with similar regional and international institutions; organise seminars/conferences on topics salient to the strategic and policy communities of the Asia-Pacific. Constituents of IDSS include the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) and the Asian Programme for Negotiation and Conflict Management (APNCM). Research Through its Working Paper Series, IDSS Commentaries and other publications, the Institute seeks to share its research findings with the strategic studies and defence policy communities. The Institute’s researchers are also encouraged to publish their writings in refereed journals. The focus of research is on issues relating to the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and their implications for Singapore and other countries in the region. The Institute has also established the S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies (named after Singapore’s first Foreign Minister), to bring distinguished scholars to participate in the work of the Institute. Previous holders of the Chair include Professors Stephen Walt (Harvard University), Jack Snyder (Columbia University), Wang Jisi (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Alastair Iain Johnston (Harvard University) and John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago). A Visiting Research Fellow Programme also enables overseas scholars to carry out related research in the Institute. 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Networking The Institute convenes workshops, seminars and colloquia on aspects of international relations and security development that are of contemporary and historical significance. Highlights of the Institute’s activities include a regular Colloquium on Strategic Trends in the 21st Century, the annual Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO) and the biennial Asia Pacific Security Conference (held in conjunction with Asian Aerospace). IDSS staff participate in Track II security dialogues and scholarly conferences in the Asia-Pacific. IDSS has contacts and collaborations with many international think tanks and research institutes throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. The Institute has also participated in research projects funded by the Ford Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. It also serves as the Secretariat for the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP), Singapore. Through these activities, the Institute aims to develop and nurture a network of researchers whose collaborative efforts will yield new insights into security issues of interest to Singapore and the region i ABSTRACT The forces of globalization, in tandem with realities of domestic natural resources, economics and politics, and the influence of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), are re-shaping the food security policy and strategy of nations such as the Philippines. This paper describes the forces that have come to bear on the shaping of food security policy in the Philippines in recent years, and the Philippine Government’s responses to the challenges. This paper attempts two approaches to the problem: 1. a political economy and public administration insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the Philippine Government’s efforts to boost rice production. Public goods and policies have greater significance in rice productivity and growth than in most other commodities and services. Research and analysis that intensifies attention to public sector governance as a crucial factor in the attainment of sustainable food security is thus appropriate; and 2. use of the concept of the “securitization” of food, and the implications of such securitization. Food security has increasingly become a matter not only of national economics, but of politics as well. Some elements related to such securitization are discussed. ******************** Bruce Tolentino is the Economic Policy Adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, Office of the Prime Minister, Royal Government of Cambodia; former Undersecretary for Policy and Planning, Department of Agriculture, Philippines. ii Food Security and the Threat From Within: 1 Rice Policy Reforms in the Philippines Introduction The forces of globalization, in tandem with realities of domestic natural resources, economics and politics, and the influence of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), are re-shaping the food security policy and strategy of nations such as the Philippines. The Philippine government has been under great pressure to respond forcefully and effectively to what is increasingly seen as a crisis – and therefore a “poor security situation” in agricultural and food production. The task of ensuring food security has become more politicized than ever, and is perceived not only as a domestic problem but an international challenge as well, given the country’s significant and increasing dependence on imported rice supplies. The task is made much more complex since agricultural trade is increasingly subject to the disciplines of multilateral agreements under the purview of the WTO. This paper describes the forces that have come to bear on the shaping of food security policy in the Philippines in recent years, and the Philippine Government’s responses to the challenges. This paper attempts two approaches to the problem: 3. a political economy and public administration insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the Philippine Government’s efforts to boost rice production. Public goods and policies have greater significance in rice productivity and growth than in most other commodities and services. Research and analysis that intensifies attention to public sector governance as a crucial factor in the attainment of sustainable food security is thus appropriate; and 4. use of the concept of the “securitization” of food, and the implications of such securitization. Food security has increasingly become a matter not only of national economics, but of politics as well. Some elements related to such securitization are discussed. The paper is organized into four (4) parts. Part 1 summarizes the performance of the Philippine rice sector over the past two to three decades. Part 2 describes the food security reform program that the country was attempting to implement – with great difficulty - over the 1990s and early 2000s. The country’s institutional structure of governance for food security and its instability over the past three decades is discussed, emphasizing the frequency with which Philippine government officials have been changed since the 1980s, and the negative impact of such changes on agricultural and food security programs. Part 2 concludes with an outlook for the likely developments in grains sector reforms, along with some 1 Revised version prepared under the Ford Foundation – Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University Project on “Non-Traditional Security Issues in Asia”. 1 elements of a scenario to stabilize governance for improved rice productivity and ultimately food security in the Philippines. Part 3 outlines the “securitization” of food in the Philippines, and finally, Part 4 offers ideas on the outlook for reforms of the grains sector in the Philippines, as well as some proposals on how some stability in leadership of the agriculture sector may be achieved, thus leading to improved food security. Part 1: The Philippines’ Performance in Rice Production2 and Population Growth Like in most other nations, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has held the attainment of sustainable food security to be a primal objective of national development policy.