There will be no importation of rice during harvest time.
This was the explicit order issued by President Rodrigo Duterte in seeking a ‘happy’ compromise with the farmers amid concerns that the influx of imported rice will hurt the local industry.
The president issued the statement during a road inauguration in Candon City, Ilocos Sur on Thursday.
“Ayaw ko. That’s what I said. Ubusin mo muna bilhin, kung mahal magpalugi na lang tayo kaysa magbili tayo. Then ang tradeoff niyan, ang drawback, is magsama ang loob ng mga farmers,” he said.
“Hindi lang dito, both Visayas and Mindanao. So there has to be a compromise there that during the harvest season or the coming of the harvest season, your reserve will be used then you start to buy. Pagka mahal, bilhin mo na.”
President Duterte has signed the Rice Tarrification Law last February which allows unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, the government put up safety nets in the law, including a comprehensive assistance program for farmers worth P10 billion a year for the next six years.
At the same time, a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) would be used to provide key interventions to support farmers and enhance their competitiveness and profitability, including providing them with farm machinery and equipment to improve farm operations, rice seed development, propagation, and promotion, expanded rice credit, and extension services.
The law also mandates that a portion of the rice tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion would be used to provide direct financial assistance to rice farmers affected by the removal of the quantitative restriction and for diversification to high-value crops.
The implementation of the law have contributed to the continuing slower inflation which aims to make market rice prices affordable.
In June for instance, the inflation rate posted its slowest in 21 months at 2.7 percent.