Presidential aspirant Norberto Gonzales said that he wants to make rice grain a "strategic crop" as part of his plan to push for agriculture for pandemic response.
"We will probably introduce one important understanding of how we will treat our crops, dapat meron tayong tinatawag na strategic crops saka mga ordinaryong crops lang," he said during the Bakit Ikaw: The Presidential Job Interview.
(We will probably introduce one important understanding of how we will treat our crops, we should have a what we call strategic crops and ordinary crops.)
"Once you call a crop strategic, that crop hindi papayagan ng gobyerno na yung crop na yan pagtatanim ay lugi," he said.
(Once you call a crop strategic, the government would not allow losses for the plantation of such crops.)
He said he will make rice grain a strategic crop, where the ideal condition is to make the country self-sufficient in producing rice or grain.
"Hindi pwedeng walang tayong palay at hindi pwedeng laging namimili tayo ng palay," he said. "The ideal condition is for us to have self-sufficiency in rice and probably even exporting."
(It should not be okay for us to not have rice grains and it should not be okay for us to buy rice. The ideal condition is for us to have self-sufficiency in rice and probably even exporting.)
Acording to Gonzales, farmers would be guaranteed that they will not incur losses if they plant rice grain.
"That's an injustice, so government will guarantee that the planting of rice in the Philippines will be profitable at all times," he added.
The introduction of strategic crops is part of Gonzales's bigger plan to bring agriculture in the pandemic response, where he said the food and the amount of food Filipinos eat will make a difference.
"Magkakaroon tayo ng mas epektibong paglaban kasi [ang] immune system natin, itataas natin 'yan sa pagkain," he said.
(We will have a more effective response because we will strengthen our immune system by eating more food.)
Gonzales said that he will deploy more people to provinces to work on agriculture, instead of keeping them in offices in Manila.
"We will have to send our agricultural people where the farmers are, where the fisherfolks are."
