Zubiri asks govt: Buy rice from Filipino farmers

SENATE Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has called on the executive to mandate the concerned government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to buy rice directly from Filipino farmers for their aid and relief programs in times of calamities.

In Senate Resolution 150, Zubiri said the latest government statistics for the average palay (unmilled rice) prices plunged to P16.28 per kilogram (kg) from P23.10 per kg for the same period last year for a 29.52-percent drop — the lowest palay price in seven years.

He noted that in a recent hearing at the House of Representatives, farmers’ groups claimed that farm gate prices of palay could go as low as P7 per kilo, much lower than the production cost at P12 per kilo.

The farmers’ groups also claimed that there were too many cheap rice imports in the market, which Executive Director Rolando Dy of the University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness seconded as an indication that “the market is oversupplied by imported inventory,” Zubiri said.

Regular milled rice is sold at an average of P35.09 per kilo, while well milled rice is sold at P39.10. Metro Manila enjoys the cheapest prices at P28 and P33.60 per kilo for regular and well milled rice, respectively. Sulu is the most expensive at P44 per kilo for regular rice and P49 per kilo for well milled rice.

Zubiri said Filipino farmers could not survive even with subsidies or support funds from the Rice Tariffication Law if this trend would continue, especially now that the harvest season is in the offing.

To mitigate the farmers’ situation, concerned government agencies and LGUs must be mandated to purchase rice directly from rice farmers, cooperatives or associations for their aid and relief operations in times of calamities, he said.