Do Picnic, Do Organic! Replying To “Food Nationalism” – As An Agriculturist, Here’s My Advice On How We Can Survive Export Bans On Foods & Related Items

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing worrisome loss of lives & endangering exports, notably foods & related stuff. We can’t stop the war – but we can start producing what we would have imported! Go picnic, go organic!

I write prompted by what Kentaro Iwamoto says: “'Food Nationalism' Worries Rise After India, Malaysia Export Bans” (03 June 2022, Nikkei Asia, asia.nikkei.com):

Soaring global food prices have prompted some Asian countries to halt exports of certain products to protect domestic consumers, raising fears of still higher inflation among their trade partners. More broadly, experts see an imminent risk of "food nationalism" spreading to more countries and products. At least one framed the phenomenon as another setback for globalization.

After India & Malaysia, “Food nationalism” might spread to other countries and products. You can’t blame countries exercising their food nationalism when it happens – it is self-defense.

The Nikkei Asia reporter quotes Priyanka Kishore, an economist at Oxford Economics as saying, "On the whole, I would say that export bans add on to the upside pressure on food prices. The impact is more pronounced for the direct trade partners."

Now then – for my country the Philippines, I am thinking of the food products like the rice and fertilizers we import, and I’m thinking like a Boy Scout: “Be Prepared.”

This calls for informed leadership. “Leaders are interested in finding the best way rather than having their own way” – John Wooden, American sports legend.

Now then – I would advise Secretary of Agriculture William Dar to now prepare the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help a minimum of 2 million rice farmers in planting locally bred and/or available hybrid rices such as Advanta, Bayer, BioRice, Corteva, Longpin, and Pioneer.-- using organic fertilizers made locally.

Hybrids will then yield not only rice but PH rice nationalism!

It will be a new PH program, and I already have a name for it, following the President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos “Masagana 99” model:

Masagana 300. Bountiful 300. Yes, we have rice varieties that can now produce 300 cavans per hectare!

There are 3 reasons why I would love that Filipino farmers practice organic agriculture (OA) with hybrid rice, among other crops:

1.     Regenerates soil
OA enriches the soil by returning its mix of natural wealth, including microorganisms and macroorganisms that not only produce the nutrients crops need but also prevent the occurrence of any pest or disease.

2.     Produces healthy foods
Because the fertilizer is natural in origin, the crops that grow on those fields are full of healthy nutrients that bodies human and animal need in order to become and/or stay healthy.

3.     Fight climate change (Indirectly)
Unlike chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers do not produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to the occurrence, nay worsening of climate change: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (the most powerful of GHGs).

Now then, growing crops using organic fertilizers concocted by Filipinos is DA nationalism I would subscribe to with all my heart!@517