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It's said that a wise person learns from his mistakes. A wiser one learns from others' mistakes. But the wisest person of all learns from others' successes. John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold: Lessons I've Learned from a Lifetime of Leading
How does a new President bring the Philippines to a desired self-sufficiency from being foreign-dependent? Incoming President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte starts hauling the dirt load with a plan to feed more than 100 million Filipinos from home.
Food security is one key result area in every nation’s agenda for survival. Simply put, no nation can survive when its citizens are hungry, poorly fed and starving. Rice as a staple needs to be made more substantial and affordable, reaching even those who are cash-poor and those in remote areas. What happened between the 70s and now in rice production beckons us all to a new era of responsible, scientific agriculture or we all end up scratching the ground for nothing.
such as the government-regulated grain even when it tastes like anything but rice! When we used to be the biggest seller of rice, we are now one of the biggest buyers in the world. What we buy, how we buy it and how it becomes questionable when it reaches the local markets mirror the dire situation of all things food for the Filipino.
Difficult and wary to admit failure to proactively address recurring gaps and setbacks in producing the staple along with vegetables and fruits unique to the local conditions, past governments saw it more convenient to let it pass and say that elements are beyond their control and that, in fact, they did their best. Meanwhile, Juan de la Cruz forever craves for fast food and reasons “never mind” since there’s no choice anyway.
Incoming President Digong Duterte chooses to be the wisest. A rare initiative to acknowledge and look back at the merits of a controverted former national leader, a review of the Marcos era agricultural productivity project Masagana 99 could bring new insights on how self-sufficiency in rice could be possibly started and be made successful in the Philippines once more. No one could rebut the significance of “search and research” to better the human condition.