Why does the Philippines import rice?

• Last Updated Tuesday, 10 November 2009 01:23

The Philippines is currently the largest importer of rice in the world, importing around 1.8 million tons of rice in 2008 (Source: United States Department of Agriculture). Three main factors explain why the Philippines imports rice:

• Land area: The Philippines has around 300,000 square kilometers, of which around 43,000 square kilometers of harvested area are used for rice production. As most of the country is very mountainous and consists of many small islands, suitable land is limited to expand rice production into without affecting wetlands, forests, or areas producing other crops. Urban areas also continue to expand rapidly.  
• Population growth: The population of the Philippines is estimated at 97 million. Its annual growth rate of around 2% – among the world’s highest – means that just to keep pace with growing demand the country would have to increase rice production and yield at rates rarely seen in history.
• Infrastructure: Irrigation infrastructure is not used and maintained as efficiently as it could be, thus reducing productivity potential. Transport infrastructure, particularly good-quality roads, is lacking in the Philippines, which affects the transport of rice and hinders the rice trade.

For more information, read the book Why does the Philippines import rice? – available free from Google books.

How is IRRI helping?

IRRI is doing a whole host of research that is helping the Philippines increase its rice production. Philippine farmers eagerly adopt new technologies and varieties that have resulted in a steady increase in rice yields over the last 50 years since IRRI was established. Philippine rice yields are close to the world average and higher than in many other rice-producing countries in Asia, including Thailand and India. There is, however, still room for improvement when compared to the high rice yields of China and Vietnam.

Average rice yield in the Philippines and a selection of
other rice-growing countries (tons per hectare) (Source: FAOstats)

Research that IRRI is involved in that is helping Filipino farmers increase their rice yields includes

• Developing new high-yielding rice varieties with built-in resistance to pests, diseases, and other stresses such as heat and drought.
• Developing rice crop management strategies that improve nutrient-use efficiency to get the most value out of inputs and reduce wastage.
• Developing climate change adaptation strategies and technologies.
• Training the next generation of rice scientists and building the capacity of rice practitioners to ensure the sustainable development of the rice industry.

Rice varieties for the Philippines

Between 1966 and 2009, 457 IRRI rice breeding lines were released as 864 varieties in 78 countries and it is estimated that 60% of the world’s rice is now planted to varieties developed from IRRI breeding material. In the Philippines alone, 107 varieties are attributed to IRRI, second only to Vietnam in the uptake of IRRI varieties. 

In 2009, three new varieties of IRRI-bred rice arrived in the Philippines – one variety is flood-tolerant, one is drought-tolerant, and one is salt-tolerant.

The salt-tolerant variety alone has the potential to increase rice production in the Philippines by 0.8 to 1.0 million tons per annum if widely adopted on the 400,000 hectares of coastal rice-growing land in the Philippines affected by salinity from sea water. Under high salt stress, high-yielding Philippine rice varieties typically produce less than a ton of rice per hectare. Under the same conditions, the new IRRI salt-tolerant variety can produce 2.5 to 3.5 tons of rice per hectare.

Working with the Philippine government

IRRI works with its partners in the Philippine government to deliver rice research to farmers to improve their rice yields and the environmental health of their rice farms. These partnerships greatly increase IRRI’s capacity to make a difference. We rely on national and local research and extension providers, such as PhilRice, the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture and others within the public and private sector, to help develop and facilitate the adoption of technologies that suit farmers.

IRRI also discusses with the Philippine government ways to increase rice production, improve the accessibility of affordable rice to poor rice consumers, and reduce the national trade deficit in rice. We do not advocate specific policy positions for the Philippine government to adopt because we understand that policy is developed in light of a wide range of inputs and must consider economic, social, political, and environmental issues, some of which are beyond the scope of IRRI’s expertise.