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MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES - PHILIPPINE President Gloria Arroyo has placed a two year ban on the selling of rice farms throughout the country to help increase production, the presidential palace said on Friday.
The ban is expected to impact on corporate farms that are looking for more areas to plant higher-value crops like bananas and pineapples to take advantage of rising global demand, as well as real estate developers.
The proclamation includes all irrigated farm land, all alluvial plains suited to agriculture, farms now planted to industrial crops, and all areas above 500m with the potential for growing semi-temperate and high-value crops, a palace statement said.
The Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, imposed the ban amid government efforts to boost its grains reserves in an environment of rising prices and dwindling stocks.
Some four million hectares of Philippine farms are planted with rice, but produce only about 92 per cent of the total domestic requirement, according to agriculture department data. -- AFP
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