LGUs urged: Legislate half-cup rice serving

Due to increased rice wastage, the Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas is recommending to the legislative bodies of local government units to pass an ordinance that requires food establishments to serve half-cup of rice.

The agriculture department considered this policy as a good initiative to help prevent rice wastage and at the same time gives consumers more options.

"It will be a good development for LGUs to adopt an ordinance that would allow customers to order half cup of rice in food establishments," said DA-7 Regional Executive Director Leo Cañeda.

The half-cup rice requirement may be used as the default serving for plated meals, too. Cañeda lamented that some food establishments refuse to provide the half-cup serving on their menu thus, the need for an institutionalized policy.

The recommendation was among the main thrusts of DA-7 in time for the observance of the National Rice Awareness Month.Some LGUs in Central Visayas have already institutionalized the half-serving of rice ordinance, namely: Cebu City and City of Naga, and towns of Talibon, Valencia, and Trinidad in Bohol.

Cañeda is asking policy makers to formulate their own ordinance that requires the serving of half-cup of rice so as to prevent wastage. A national survey conducted in 2008 shows that every Filipino wastes two tablespoons of cooked rice or nine grams of uncooked rice in a day.

In 2008, DA reported that wasted rice was equivalent to 12.2 percent of the total rice imports.That percentage is equivalent to P7.27 billion or the consumption of nearly 2.5 million Filipinos a year.

But the more recent survey in 2013 indicated that the wastage has increased to three tablespoons of cooked rice or 14 grams of uncooked rice.On average, people eat around four-and-a-half cups of rice daily.

Moreover, DA7 also encouraged LGUs to craft resolutions to serve healthier rice options like brown rice, which is the whole grain form of rice.

The local measure is seen to promote the production and serving of healthier rice such as the regular milled rice, brown rice, and rice mixed with other staples.