Manila - The Philippines declared a two-year moratorium on the sale and conversion of farmland to help ensure availability of food crops, the government said Friday.

The ban covers all irrigated farm lands, all alluvial plain land highly suitable for agriculture, agro-industrial crop lands, mangrove areas and fish sanctuaries.

A government statement said President Gloria Macapagal decreed the moratorium in administrative order signed May 16.

Arroyo said the ban aims "to assure the availability, adequacy, accessibility of food supplies to every Filipino at all times."

"To meet the needs of the increasing number of Filipinos, there is a need for the production of rice to be optimized to meet our local needs and consumption," she said.

"There is a need for all lands utilized and intended for rice production to be protected from any other land use or conversion ... to ensure sufficient rice supply," she added.

The Philippines, now the world's biggest rice importer, has been scrambling to build stock amid surging prices of the staple grain and other food items.

Agriculture experts have noted that the area of lands being planted with rice and other food products in the Philippines has declined due to urbanization and industrialization.

A total of 2.3 million hectares of land are currently planted with rice in the Philippines, compared to 9.9 million hectares in Thailand and 7.5 million hectares in Vietnam.

Arroyo earlier allocated more than 1 billion dollars for a programme aimed at boosting rice and food production amid fears of a crisis. (dpa)