Just like India (wheat) and Mexico (corn), the Philippines is having a difficult time with the rising commodity prices. The price of rice is beyond those living on annual income of $300. At the market today, the price of rice ranged from 33 pesos to 48 pesos. That is 75 cents to 1.10 per kilo. And in Filipino culture, a meal is not complete unless there is rice.
The government provides subsidized rice. It is lower quality but it is more affordable. The church we live in is one of the distribution points. Here is the line up yesterday afternoon:
There are many distribution points around the municipality.
What makes the present reality more tragic is that Plaridel (where I am) and other towns and cities in the Philippines are rapidly converting their remaining agricultural land into industrial or residential land in order to 'modernize' and provide more jobs and prosperity to their citizens and the government.
As planning students we are struggling with this because we know that food security will provide the best choice over the long term but the municipality and the people want to improve, to modernize, to attract business. And for them that means industry, factories, subdivisions and roads. How to provide a sustainable alternative that is a middle ground between these two visions?
No travel blog would be complete without a picture or two of young children. These are photos a colleague/friend took. I've chosen some that don't completely reveal the identity of the children as we didn't ask them if we could post their photos. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment