It can hardly be said whether or not policymakers are hungry like the poor masses. People would not believe if told that cabinet men are stricken by the rice shortage and are going hungry on their job. Only the poor can be too afflicted by the prohibitive cost of rice and manifest signs of dizzied bearing caused by hunger. It is thus shocking to hear from no less than the agriculture secretary issuing an advice that like one coming from a hungry person.
The suggestion from some sectors for food chains and food outlets to serve in half the rice in every order is simply moronic. It is an idea that is off tangent, one that misses to hit the real point of the problem. It does not feed the hungry consumer. It makes the food entrepreneur with so much rice to eat. The consumer will go hungry and poor while the food entrepreneur will go rich with a stomach always full.
Cutting the serving in half is aimed to reduce wastage of the staple that is getting scarce in these continually fasting times. The idea was a whimsical thought out of observation that costumers in food chains are prone to leaving much of the rice being served. The suggestion to cut in half the rice serving would have been alright if the price would have been cut in half as well.
Problem is, only the serving is being halved, the price still in full and had even been increased owing to the rising price of rice. That places the poor consumers at a great disadvantage as they will be paying more for too little. Getting additional serving will be too costly for consumers who will be forced to spend more beyond their budget due to the reduced rice serving.
With the halving of rice serving, people would be paying in full with stomachs still half empty. Else, they have to pay more to get a full meal. We do not know if the strategy will help reduce the wastage of rice. What is certain is that people will be spending many times over just to have a full meal.
The problem appears rooted on mismanagement by a government that is hounded by corruption, opting to resort to importation while local farmers are defeated in the market as imports are given all the support by government.
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