21. Earlier, the government had proposed the reduction of tariffs to ease
prices of agricultural products, especially rice. A Cabinet member is
appealing to the public to reduce consumption of rice or to replace rice
with other root crops. Restaurants are asked to serve a half-cup of rice
to their customers. The private sector is enjoined to practice corporate
farming or to ensure that employees are given rice subsidies through
planting of rice by the country’s biggest corporations.
Public universities are told to open their gymnasiums so they can be
used as rice warehouses. Agricultural colleges are encouraged to
increase farm demonstration laboratories to bolster the administration’s
food security and stability program.
The military was ordered to make military trucks and aerial logistics
available for the delivery and distribution of rice around the country.
Police forces were mobilized to guard against rice smuggling. The
government cancelled the licenses of rice traders to weed out
unscrupulous merchants. Agricultural officials are conducting spot
inspections of rice warehouses to monitor the rice supply in the country.