BIZ BUZZ: Marcos bats for brown rice
Eating brown rice isn’t just the healthier option; it may help bring down rice prices and address local production shortfall.
This is a low-hanging fruit—or rather, grain— that corporate Philippines has identified, a national campaign that no less than President Marcos is expected to launch with a big bang in 2025.
By encouraging Pinoys to eat brown or “less polished” rice, millers can reduce the polishing process and immediately boost rice supply by 15 percent or around 1.65 million metric tons a year. The bottom line? Retail prices of this food staple can go down by around P3 to P4 per kilo, Aboitiz Group CEO Sabin Aboitiz, lead convener of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), said in a recent chat, citing estimates presented to Malacañang.
The brown rice strategy is a brainchild of Aileen Christel Ongkauko of La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp., head of the PSAC Agriculture group, Aboitiz said. It has been presented to the Department of Agriculture and Mr. Marcos himself in one of the recent brainstorming sessions with PSAC.
“They all agreed already,” Aboitiz said. “It’s a brilliant idea,” he agreed.
Tycoon Chris Po, executive chair of Century Pacific Food, is tasked to put on the creative hat to formulate the national campaign in the coming year.
After removing the husk and bran layer from palay, milling typically leaves only about 65 percent of the grain, becoming what we eat as white rice.
The bran, in turn, is used as animal feed. “But that’s where the good stuff is,” Aboitiz said.
The idea is to reduce palay polishing to leave initially 70 percent, and eventually 75 percent of the grain, until Pinoys get used to eating rice that’s not too white but richer in fiber.
The country produces around 11 million metric tons (MT) of rice each year. This year, rice imports are projected to hit 5 million MT, a record high for the Philippines, already the world’s largest importer of rice.
The campaign to promote consumption of brown rice also complements the call to curb rice wastage. Expect Mr. Marcos himself to eat a mouthful to encourage Pinoys to follow suit.
