Food Crisis Series 27:
Father of the National Grains Authority (now NFA)
Re-print for the 48th Anniversary of National Food Authority (former National Grains Authority*) September 26, 2020 Theme: "Mas sigurado ang bukas 'pag may sapat na bigas."
NGA Pioneers' Reunion: Reunite, Reminisce, and Rejoice
Theme of NGA 70s Pioneer Employees’ Reunion, January 25-26, 2019
A Message of Dr Abe V Rotor
Former Regional Director, Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley (1976-78)
Dr and Mrs Abe V Rotor exchange pleasantries with former NFA administrator Jesus T Tanchanco (right) during the last homecoming of former NGA-NFA employees in 2012. It was the last meeting of the group with this great man, the father of the National Food Authority, then National Grains Authority.
The theme of this occasion, a triad of 3 Rs speaks well of your laudable objectives which I happily enjoin, to Reunite, to Reminisce, and to Rejoice, after all the years since the 70’s when we were young ones. Or when we were once young, a phenomenon of life we cannot escape. Can we still recognize one another? Of course, just a whisper of a name and the past comes back in blissful memories.
Please add another R . Thus, Reunite, Reminisce, Rejoice, Rotate (Rotor), in this order. Repeat and have more occasions like this. I hope to join you, so with our other colleagues. Well, the fourth R – Rotate makes the world go round. Life is a cycle. Everything does. While we are able to trace the beginning and end of a cycle, its continuity is indefinite, like the number 8. Ideally man’s aspiration is like that. So with his hopes and dreams.
You have captured the essence of this gathering. Congratulations to the organizers. As a member of NFA and its predecessor, NGA, I have always remained a part of the organization. I am proud of it, and I’ll treasure it as long as I live.
To me the most important organization is one that guarantees the basic needs of a people. There is no country without an NFA, or its equivalence - even the most advanced nations like Japan and the US have, so with city states like Singapore and Hongkong.
Our organization has been built on a philosophy that no leader or organization can destroy. Several attempts failed. It is in upholding this philosophy that matters most to us, keeping its integrity virtually at all cost. We were not only pioneers; we have been sentinels to this day. I say we have been good soldiers, and good soldiers never die. They say pioneers are themselves heroes. Where and when no one had dared, we did. We have been pathfinders. The grain industry grew not only with us but by us.
We may have earned laurels around our heads. But we cannot and should not rest on honors and praises. We cannot remain comfortable in retirement. Retirement does not end our responsibilities. Rather we find ourselves moved up to the challenges of the times.
In the 70s we were instrumental in filling up a huge breadbasket that augmented the lean rice supply of Manila and major urban centers thus saving them from imminent famine during that period. And what was more astonishing an accomplishment was when the Philippines became a rice-exporting country for almost eight long years. Yes, we were part of that incredible accomplishments, too.
Whenever I am asked of my greatest achievement in government service for twenty long years I would proudly relate my role in this economic miracle. I believe you would answer the same and perhaps tell more about it – the dangers and sacrifices you faced, and the triumph and fulfillment that followed. Yet, like the Unknown Soldier you have kept low and humble.
But this time we cannot remain silent. We are in a new battlefield. But we must act with prudence and wisdom. Wisdom they say, is distilled knowledge gained from experiences, time, loyalty - and of course, courage and unity. We must stand as we did before, for the sake of the organization we served in the best years of our lives, in lieu of personal comfort and security. Here is a list of issues confronting NFA and the Grains industry.
Maybe we can take up these issues in a conference-workshop, perhaps in another homecoming. This could be our most important contribution – sharing that wisdom as pioneers. It is providing the connection of the old and new. Retired and young employees. Foreign and local programs. Greater participation at the grassroots in policy making and program setting. Please go over these issues. You may not agree with all of them, but it is equally valuable in coming up with solutions. You may annotate each item.
1. Yes to programs to reduce rice consumption, expand other food sources
2. Yes to programs to reduce wastage of food from field to the dining table
3. Yes to agribusiness for value added to the advantage of farmers
4. Yes to Corporate Farming revival, corporations must produce the rice requirement of their employees
5. Yes to a new Package of Technology, Masagana 99 Part 2
6. Yes to Government to Government (G to G) importation through NFA.
7. Yes to full utilization of NFA resources, and expansion as needed
8. Yes to full financial support, yes to “social cost concept of buffer stock”
9. Yes to encouraging young people to go into agriculture.
10. Yes to technology innovation with less dependence on high tech and input
11. No to abolition of NFA. No to privatization.
12. No to rice land conversion into non-agricultural.
13. No to huge and unnecessary importation, disincentive to local production.
14. No to graft and corruption in the industry involving many sectors
15. No to genetically modified rice (GMO); it pollutes the natural gene pool
16. No to high tech in rice farming, it is unaffordable to ordinary farmers
17. No to delinquent farmers, irresponsible, unwilling to innovate
18. No to pesticides harmful to health and environment
19. No to kaingin or swiden farming, it irreversibly destroys the land
20. No to pollution, erosion, siltation as a result of poor management
There are many other concerns which you may know having stayed with the agency longer than I did. I had one advantage though. After my early retirement in 1989 I went to the academe to teach, had a stint as consultant of the Senate committee on food and agriculture. And having visited other countries I realized how intricate and complex is the grain industry. We must continue learning.
“Let us not go gentle into the night.”**
By the way, thanks to the present administration for paving the way in re-opening the Grains Museum at NFA Cabanatuan. It is a unique museum, it offers the other side of technology – culture and the quaintness of indigenous and community living, which to me is the more important aspect of the grain industry.
I believe that another reason for this gathering is Renewal of our commitment to the agency and the industry, to that cause for which we gave the best years of our lives. It is also an occasion to Remember (5th R) our departed colleagues and friends. It is remembering the man behind our NGA and NFA - our beloved Jesus T Tanchanco. JT as we fondly called him must be smiling up there. We also remember in prayers all our departed colleagues.
Again, Congratulations!
Again, Congratulations!
Dr Rotor served as consultant of the Senate's Committee on Food and Agriculture with the late Senator Butz Aquino as chairman (1989-1993). The committee stood vigorous against the abolition and privatization of NFA.
*The National Food Authority was created through Presidential Decree No. 4 dated September 26, 1972, under the name National Grains Authority (NGA) with the mission of promoting the integrated growth and development of the grains industry covering rice, corn, feed grains and other grains like sorghum, including wheat which we had substantive success on the farm level.
**Dylan Thomas – Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
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