The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) agrees with the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) recommendation to raise rice import tariffs and temporarily suspend imports, citing the need to shield local farmers from plunging palay prices.
The proposal is expected to be discussed by the Cabinet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his state visit to India this week.
According to field reports, farmgate prices of newly harvested palay have dropped to as low as P8 per kilo, a 31-percent decline from last year’s levels, translating to an estimated P54.5 billion loss in farmers’ income in the first half of 2025.
The group blamed the steep price decline on the “uncontrolled entry” of cheap imported rice following the government’s decision to slash import tariffs to 15 percent in July 2024, which was further worsened by the rollout of the subsidized P20-per-kilo rice program.
FFF national manager Raul Montemayor also raised concern over reports that a DA-affiliated government corporation imported rice from India, despite legal provisions mandating that buffer stocks be sourced solely from local farmers.
“We are relieved that the DA has finally acknowledged the problem, but we feel that they should have acted sooner and more decisively, and not allowed prices to dip so low,” Montemayor said, noting that raising tariffs would not necessarily push retail prices higher if the government cracks down on profiteering.
Montemayor noted that while trading margins between import costs and retail prices used to average P13 per kilo, they have ballooned to over P20 per kilo in recent months, despite a decline in international rice prices.
To implement the tariff hike, the FFF proposed invoking the Safeguard Measures Act (Republic Act No. 8800), which empowers the DA to impose provisional safeguard duties on rice imports from both ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries in cases where import surges harm local producers.
The group explained that amending tariffs through an Executive Order would take longer due to required consultations and can only be issued when Congress is in recess, likely by October.
The FFF also noted that while the recent amendment to the Rice Tariffication Law allows the President to temporarily ban rice imports, such a move could trigger concerns from the World Trade Organization (WTO), which generally prohibits the reimposition of quantitative import restrictions.
