Agri agencies: Rice tariff bill to benefit farmers

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) expressed support for a consolidated rice tariffication bill that President Rodrigo Duterte wants passed, saying it would further aid Filipino farmers and increase the Philippines’ food production.

This came after a consumer group renewed its opposition to the measure, saying it would doom the country’s rice sector.

At the sidelines of the DA’s budget hearing at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the measure would increase farmers’ harvest, lower production costs, and improve incomes, as long as the tariff collected from imports would go to the rice industry.

“There should be an equivocal and clear statement in the proposed law that the tariff to be collected will automatically go to Rice Competitive Enhancement Fund (RCEF), because [that would ensure] that [the] rice industry would be able to stand up” to rice imports,” he added.

Under the measure, the rice-import quota enjoyed by the NFA would be removed and businessmen would be allowed to import the staple with the corresponding tariff rate.

Once it is enacted, the country’s Minimum Access Volume (MAV) for rice shall revert to its 2012 level of 350,000 metric tons (MT) from the current 805,000 MT.

The bill, which has Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a principal author, shall be tackled in a plenary session of the House of Representatives and predicted to be approved on third reading next week.

The DA projects that if the country imports 2 million metric tons (MT) with a 40-percent tariff, about $400 million (P21.24 billion) could be generated annually.

If the bill is passed, Piñol said, his department shall give to farmers free quality seeds that will double the rice they harvest and “even subsidize their farm equipment.”

He emphasized, however, that rice tariffication would not lower local rice prices.

“Tariffication is the option we have to implement to protect our farmers from the inflow of imported rice in view of the lifting of the quantitative restriction as part of our commitments to the World Trade Organization ( WTO). It has nothing to do with the price of rice,” he said.

Its effect would only be felt after all support for the industry has been delivered, he added.

The NFA echoed Piñol’s support for the bill’s enactment, with spokesman Rex Estoperez saying it would be good for the economy.

“As long as the welfare of our farmers is considered, we’re OK with it. We support the farmers,” Estoperez said.

“However, it should be clear to all in what forms of support are we talking about,” he added.

In response to claims that rice tariffication would only “empower smugglers,” the NFA spokesman said smuggling would only happen “if government agencies in charge are not extending their monitoring.”

Public advocacy group Foundation for Economic Freedom also expressed support, with chairman and former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo saying that implementing “the President’s order to liberalize rice importation by the private sector” is needed.

According to him, allowing private businesses to import the staple is one way to help fight the country’s rising inflation.

In a statement on Wednesday, Cathy Estavillo, spokesman of rice watchdog Bantay Bigas, said the bill “is a death warrant or certificate for the Philippine rice industry, poor consumers, and producers.”

According to her, rice farmers and consumers has been suffering from the impact of rice imports, though with quantitative restriction (QR), since the country’s entry to the WTO. It depressed farmgate prices, bankrupted and displaced farmers, and prompted retail prices to rise.