EXPECT the farm gate prices of palay to go up, 1.1-million rice farmers belonging to the National Confederation of Irrigators of the Philippines said on Thursday.
Silvestre Bonto, NCIP president, said that the rise in the farm gate prices of palay is being backed by Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., National Food Authority chairperson.
“Evasco supports the hike. He knows about it 100 percent,” he told the Manila Standard.
A one kilogram of palay is anticipated to go up from P17 to P20 to P21, he said.
“The increase to P20 a kilo is acceptable for dry palay, and not for newly harvest palay,” he said.
Dry palay is preferred because its moisture content for milling is only 14 percent, while fresh grains contain 22-percent moisture content.
Bonto said that while rice farmers would enjoy higher farm gate prices of rice, the consumer price would be affected.
“Just like in Cagayan and Nueva Ecija, a kilo of newly harvest palay is at P22 to P23,” he said.
He called on the Duterte administration, particularly the Department of Agriculture, to provide farmer-irrigators with a P20 to P21 subsidy support system.
A militant lawmaker, meanwhile, said the NFA should buy more palay or unhusked rice, from the farmers to beef up its stock, than almost totally relying from those sourced from abroad.
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao made the remarks in response to the NFA's claim there is low supply of rice which prompted the agency to import from private suppliers.
“NFA is sowing fear about having low supply, by consciously hiding the fact they only intend to stock up imported rice and totally neglecting its supposed mandate of puchasing palay from Filipino farmers, instead of from foreign governments or private entities,” Casilao said.
Casilao said the NFA was trying to create panic among the people when there is no or critically low rice stock in the country. He said the problem on rice supply was because it is being controlled bys the private sector.
He said that from 2011 to 2015, there was an upward trend in palay production, 16.6 million metric tons (translated to 10.9 million MT of rice at 65 percent milling rate) to as high as 18.9 million MT in 2014, and 17.6 million MT in 2015.
“The NFA’s problem is due to its import-dependence, which is actually reflected by its dis-orientation or embracing a neoliberal outlook, that its local purchase share to total production reaches almost zero percent, and its importation dwarfs the stock from Filipino farmers,” Casilao said.
Government data show that the NFA’s procurement in 2011, whilch reached 274,981 metric tons, was a mere 1.65 percent of the 16.6 million MT local production of palay; in 2012, 360,882 MT or 2 percent of 18 million MT; in 2013, 365,582 MT or 1.98 percent of 18.4 million MT; in 2014, 26,481 MT or almost zero share to 19.9 million MT; in 2015, 227,935 MT or 1.26 percent of 18.1 million MT.
Casilao added that NFA has already surrendered its mandate of securing the rice stock to the private sector, when its share to the inventory was surpassed by the commercial stock, as early as mid-2012.
As of NFA’s latest data of stock inventory on November 2016, 546 thousand MT was a minority 17 percent of the total 3.3 million MT, while commercial stock is at more than one million MT composed 33 percent, and 1.6 million MT or 51 percent as household stock, he said.
“Why is the NFA acting like he is securing the rice stock in the country, when it is already at the hands of private traders aka cartel, meaning, it is the urgent task of the Duterte government to regulate this stock, while purchasing more and majority of the palay on the immediate next harvest season, as regulatory function in the rice market,” Casilao said.
Casilao recalled that President Rodrigo Duterte promised in May 2016 that the country will reach rice self-sufficiency and bar rice importation by the private sector.
“The president seriously knows the impact of the inaccessibility of rice on the poor people, that is why, he went to aid on the farmers during the Kidapawan carnage in April last year, if he is only to replicate the programs and policies of the past administration, more similar unrest will be brought to his attention by the very people who believed in him,” Casilao said.