Philippines: Increasing Rice Imports Endangers Food Security and Sufficiency

The Philippines is now Asia’s largest rice importer as a result of agricultural trade liberalization coupled with state neglect, and this threatens the country’s food security and sufficiency, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

Data from the National Food Authority showed that from 1984 to 1994, the country imported an annual average of 151,588 metric tons (MT) of rice. But from 1995, when the Philippines became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to 2006, rice importation shot up to an annual average of over 1 million MT, a 587% increase.