Sustainable Rice? Frank A Hilario – "I Wish!"

On the subject of sustainability, is the United Nations contradicting itself on a global scale?

I ask that question seriously because Bruce Tolentino of the Central Bank, erstwhile Deputy Director of IRRI, has just shared on Facebook the above news on a coming UN conference: "Business Unusual: 2nd Global Sustainable Rice Conference And Exhibition" in Bangkok, Thailand 1-2 October 2019. I understand the conference theme is "Rice is key to food security and environmental protection." The website Sustainable Rice Platform is understandably excited, saying (sustainablerice.org): "The SRP Conference is back with new opportunities for participants to collaborate, influence and inspire!"

Sorry, even granting I could afford to attend, it would take a lot more to get this crusading writer to be inspired!

The researchers at UP Los Baños, of which I am an alumnus, would call that "a commodity-oriented approach." Not complimentary. Should be complementary – rice accompanied by other crops and/or livestock. As a farmer's son, I understand – you can be sustainable producing rice alone for your family, village, town, province etc. But that would be rice alone. And you need food other than rice.

"Rice is key to food security and environmental protection" – I understand; that is true because there are millions of rice farmers, and if their farming practices together bring about sustainability, so much the better!

But sustainability is a hard knot to crack, if you will pardon the forced analogy. Even with rice alone, if you want sustainability for the rice farmers, around a technology or system you want the farmers to adopt, you will have to show them all of these:

(1) Technically feasible – You must show it to be workable.

(2) Economically viable – You must show it to be financially rewarding.

(3) Environmentally sound – You must show it to be conservation-oriented, that is to say, the natural resources are allowed time to recover themselves before you exploit them again. (Like: A resource like the soil, you have to enrich it naturally!)

(4) Socially acceptable – You must see to it that: The village people approve!

I believe the best way to tackle global sustainability is not to be commodity-oriented but to be globally oriented. Let me just deal with the village, and I declare:

It takes a village to be sustainable.

Now, talking about the United Nations, UN, here are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, the UN wants:

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health And Well-Being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water And Sanitation
7. Affordable And Clean Energy
8. Decent Work And Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, And Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities And Communities
12. Responsible Consumption And Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life On Land
16. Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships.

You cannot have them on rice alone!

Let us localize. If you ask me what does a Philippine village need, I will say: All of these:
rice
corn
vegetables
meat
milk
education
leisure!

Yes, sustainability just on a village scale is a hard knot to crack!@517