Wellness in Science & Technology: DoST promotes brown rice | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

DoST promotes brown rice | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said while there is another way of attacking the problem of rice shortage, which is to increase the production of palay or grains, they go for increase in the yields of rice from palay.

Montejo noted that the volume of farm yields would actually suffice to meet the demand if only 80 to 100 percent of it is milled into rice. Unfortunately though, he said, “we only get 65 percent yield from milling palay to white rice.”

He said that for this, huge part of the national borrowing is earmarked to rice importation, making the country the number one rice importer in the world.

“The current national debt attributable to subsidy to rice importation is nearly P200 B,” he said.

To increase rice yields from palay, he said, brown rice should be produced instead of white rice.

“We can get around 80 percent yields by milling palay into unpolished rice or brown rice. That's an additional 15 percent yield, enough to wipe out the country’s current rice shortage,” Montejo said. “Brown rice is also far more nutritious because it has a lot of fiber and vitamins.”"