DA to tackle rice farmers’ concern on price downturn
The Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to conduct ground-level consultations and tackle the recent downturn in rice prices ahead of Congressional deliberations on the Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act.
In a statement on Monday, the DA said it would gather inputs or suggestions from farmers and legislators to craft a strategic response to lower palay prices, which have discouraged farmers from producing the staple food.
“Some farmers claim that private traders are blaming the P20 [per kilo] rice program for the drop in prices. That’s simply not true,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement on Monday.
Despite this, Tiu Laurel said the agency would expedite the expansion of the subsidized rice program to free up space in National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses and buy more palay from farmers.
“Every bag of rice sold at P20 [per kilo] frees up space for two sacks of palay, which we can purchase at better prices than what private traders offer,” he added.
At present, the NFA buys palay at a minimum of P17 per kilogram for fresh stock and up to P24 per kilo for dry palay.
The DA is optimistic that Congress will pass the proposed legislation before the first harvest season begins next year, if not sooner.
Tiu Laurel said he is hopeful the RICE Act would restore some controls to manage the volume of rice imports.
Key agriculture officials will carry out the consultations, including Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro, Agriculture Undersecretary Christopher Morales, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson and Food Terminal Inc. president and CEO Joseph Rudolph Lo.
Reelected Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Tingog party list representatives Andrew Julian Romualdez and Jude Acidre filed House Bill No. 1 in the 20th Congress, seeking to restore the NFA’s regulatory powers and prevent hoarding, profiteering and price manipulation through market intervention.
This will tweak portions of the Rice Tariffication Law that was amended last year.
Under the draft measure, the authority of the NFA to register and issue license to warehouses, conduct inspections and monitor rice trading will be reinstated.
The NFA will also gain the power to seize hoarded rice stocks and release them to the public to mitigate artificial shortages or price spikes.
It will retain the NFA’s mandate to purchase palay from local farmers, although it will be empowered to set and enforce a floor price for palay procurement.
Romualdez said earlier that the House bill would help the Marcos administration achieve its goal to bring down retail rice prices to P20 per kilo.
Launched in May, the initiative sells discounted rice to vulnerable groups—solo parents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries, Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Walang Gutom (No Hunger) Program enrollees and other low-income groups.
