Rice is nice...but desperate times require desperate measures. The Economist this week reports (“Empty Bowls, Stomachs and Pockets”) that:  

THE soaring price of rice and dwindling stockpiles of Asia’s staple food are causing anxiety across the continent. In particular the Philippines, a big, hungry country which cannot grow enough to feed itself, could be in trouble. The front pages of Manila’s newspapers scream about a “rice crisis”, as politicians float drastic solutions, such as forcing the country’s top 100 companies to take up rice farming.  

And that’s not the half of it. With the price of premium Thai rice jumping by nearly 30 percent in the past month and further prices increases expected, reports of rice banditry and hoarding are soaring in Thailand and other countries.  As harvest times nears in many areas, rice producers and transporters are hiring armed guards.

All across Southern Asia there is a mad scramble to guard and lock in supplies. Cambodia this week suspended rice exports for two months.  Several major rice exporting countries have already done so.   The Philippines recently signed an agreement with Vietnam to guarantee future shipments, but The Economist describes the agreement as “more of a face-saving measure than a firm pledge.” 

And now it appears that the government of the Philippines is appealing to a higher authority for help.  A news report ("Arroyo seeks divine help to fight high oil, rice prices") this week from the Philippines indicates that President Arroyo visited a holy site and asked for a miracle to help feed the Philippines and the rest of the world.  

With rice inventories at near record lows and rice exporting countries limiting rice exports, it may, in fact, take a miracle to feed the world’s appetite for rice. About half the world’s population depends on rice as a staple.  And with rice exports accounting for only 7 percent of world rice production, major rice importing countries like Indonesia and The Philippines are justifiably worried.   

According to a report from India News “rice yields in the Philippines are nearly double those of Thailand, but production is not keeping up with rising demand." The story quotes Robert Zeigler, the President of the International Rice Research Institute, as saying that in The Philippines, as in Indonesia, "there is just not enough land."

After reading the quote from Zeigler, I went to the IRRI’s website for more information.  On the homepage there is a world population counter ominously ticking away.  Underneath is a counter measuring the number of productive hectares devoted to rice production, but the number is not rising…it’s slowly decreasing.