President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo urged the promotion of birth spacing as a family-planning method and part of efforts to curb the demand for food as the price of rice continues to rise in the world market.
In birth spacing, couples allow at least a two-year interval in between children.
“We are challenged to put more money into poor people’s pockets. That is why we’re creating programs in training women. We are challenged to promote good nutrition. We are challenged to promote birth spacing,†Arroyo said in a speech at the convention of Soroptimists International-Philippines Friday.
Although the rice production rate is higher than the population growth rate, Arroyo said this is no reason to relax since the country has not yet achieved self-sufficiency in the staple cereal.
“Our agricultural modernization…has allowed us to increase our rice production by more than the population growth rate of 2.04% [but] even if our rice production is growing more than our population, we have been importing rice since Spanish times and we have not closed that gap in a sustainable manner,†she said.
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