Rice prices could dip as low as P34 per kilo by the end of 2020, the lowest price in seven years, the National Economic and Development Authority said Wednesday.
NEDA Assistant Secretary Mercedita Sombilla said she was hoping for rice prices to further decrease from the current price at P36.53 per kilo as a result of the Rice Tariffication Law approved in 2019, replacing import quotas on rice with tariffs in a bid to bring down its cost.
“It’s now even dropping at a lower price. It exceeded more and we hope that it will still go a little bit lower so that more people will benefit from it,” Sombilla said in a Palace briefing.
She added the government was counting on the P10-billion fund for farm implements to further boost production and lower prices.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the fund, which has been in full effect since October of last year, benefited 491,756 farmers.
“The whole objective of improving productivity, competitiveness, and profitability will always be our guiding objectives in the implementation of the rice competitiveness enhancement fund,” he said.
Dar also refuted the study of the Federation of Free Farmers which claimed that rice farmers lost P68 billion since the Rice Tariffication Law was implemented, noting that the government has stepped up to assist farmers.
“A farmer shouldn’t rely everything to the government. They should work harder to increase their harvest so that they could also decrease their cost of production. That will give him more opportunity in terms of higher income,” Dar said.
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