The Problem of Food and Inflation: A Case Study from the Japanese Occupation

Abstract

Insufficiency of food production, particularly rice, has long been a problem in the Philippines. During the American period, periodic shortages occurred, necessitating importation from neighboring countries. Attempts were made to make the Philippines self-sufficient and to rationalize the distribution offood in the 1930s, but World War II erupted and the Philippines came under Japanese rule. The war and Japanese occupation disrupted supply lines and agricultural cycles, resulting in a potential shortage of rice and other food commodities. Foreseeing this, the Japanese Military Administration and later, the Laurel administration, adopted various plans to increase production, systematize distribution, and control prices. Almost all the plans failed due to a variety of reasons- lack of peace and order; lack of fuel and transportation; resistance by the people: the necessity of feeding Japanese soldiers: and so. on. Many of the plans are worth studying to see how the counuy tried to face up to the problem of a food shortage, during very abnormal times.

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