By Stephanie Sevillano | Philippine News Agency
The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday called on legislators to work anew on institutionalizing the availability of half-cup rice options in food establishments to address wastage.
This came after the 340,000 metric tons (MT) of milled rice wastage reported from 2018 to 2019, dropped to 255,000 MT as of November, according to data from the Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
“Gustong i-revive ni Secretary (Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.) iyong bill na ma-offer ’yong half [-cup of] rice. Matandaan natin ang [isa sa] mga previous authors nito sa Congress, sa 16th Congress, si President (Ferdinand R.) Marcos Jr., noong senator siya,” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in an interview.
“The Secretary is really interested in helping, reviving, and crafting a new bill that hopefully will cater dito sa possibility na magkaroon ng option.”
The reported data on rice wastage could have met the demand of 2.79 million Filipinos in a year, considering the daily milled rice requirement is around 37,000 MT, according to PhilRice.
De Mesa said Filipinos who want ‘half-cup’ rice “for whatever reason” must not be obliged to consume a full cup of rice in food establishments.
“Kasi ’pag binigay mo sa kanya one cup rice agad at hindi niya kayang ubusin, ano na ’yon? Automatic wastage na ’yong kalahati. Not unlike kung merong opportunity na ma-offer sa kanya ’yong half [-cup] rice,” he added.
To date, three lawmakers lobbied for the revival of the half-cup rice bill—Quezon 4th District Rep. Keith Micah Tan, AGAP Party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones, and Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin.
Besides pushing for the half-cup rice option, De Mesa said Filipinos can access alternative carbohydrates like sweet potato and corn.
Half-cup rice in gov’t offices
While waiting for a bill to be passed, PhilRice Development and Communication Division head Hazel Beltran said they have requested President Marcos for the issuance of an executive order (EO) to make the half-cup rice option available in all government agencies nationwide.
“PBBM fully supports iyong half-cup ordinance kasi nga naalala niya na siya iyong unang nag-submit no’n. Pero ita-try muna natin lahat ngayon sa government agencies. So, lahat dapat ng kainan sa government agencies mag-offer ng half-cup,” she said in a separate Zoom interview.
She said the request was made in partnership with the Private Sector Advisory Council, which they hoped to be approved and implemented in 2025.
“Iyong EO na pino-propose natin is for rollout natin sa government offices soon. Tapos, kapag nakita namin na significant iyong impact noon sa ating food wastage at nabawasan niya iyong wastage sa ating government offices, that’s the time that we will recommend it for the private sector as well,” Beltran added.
She said they target to pilot the half-cup rice option in government agencies for two years, with the intent to come up with a food wastage reduction assessment for the reference of the private sector.