MANILA - With rice prices reaching record levels the Philippines has come up with a novel way to conserve the staple cereal -- eat less, a report said Tuesday.

The government has asked the country's fast food outlets to offer half portions of rice, the newspaper said.

"I'm asking fast-food restaurants to give their customers an option to order half a cup of rice," Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was quoted as saying.

Yap noted that "people don't really finish their rice."

Fast-food restaurants such as Jollibee, McDonalds and KFC are popular among Filipino families, especially those on low incomes, and serve rice with most of their meals.

The Philippines is struggling to source supplies of up to 1.8 million metric tons of rice this year amid tight global supply and surging prices.

The Department of Agriculture has warned of a rice deficit of 2.1 million metric tons this year.

"If Filipinos could be more prudent with their consumption, rice imports could go down by 37 percent to 1.17 million metric tons compared with last year's import requirement of 1.87 million metric tons," the paper said, quoting the agriculture department.*AFP

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