Rice planters’ loss is Pinoy consumers’ gain–MB member
THE losses incurred by 2 million rice planters due to the plunge in farm-gate prices could be considered as a form of “tax” once shouldered by consumers who had to buy more expensive rice in previous years.
Monetary Board (MB) member Bruce Tolentino, who is also a former Agriculture undersecretary for policy and planning, made this pronouncement after the BusinessMirror reported on Friday that planters lost P61.77 billion due to the drop in the farm-gate price of rice.
“I’d say that the ‘loss’ incurred by some 2 million rice farmers is a tax on 105 million consumers who for decades have been paying two [times] to three [times] more for rice compared to consumers in Thailand and Vietnam,” Tolentino told the BusinessMirror.
A policy brief prepared by Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) revealed that rice planters lost at least P61.77 billion due to the drop in the farm-gate price of rice.
PhilRice also said the plight of local planters may even worsen as their losses could balloon to nearly
P130 billion if prevailing farm-gate prices will continue to fall below production cost.
Citing the results of its Ricebased Farm Household Survey, PhilRice said 10 percent of total rice farmers “have hesitated to plant rice if price of dry palay would only be at an unprofitable P12 per kilogram.”
“Many of those who would still plant would rather consume instead of sell their produce,” the PhilRice paper read. However, Tolentino noted there are rice farmers, who have adopted modern planting technologies which could hike their output and make up for the reduction in the output of other farmers.
“Certainly some planters— those who are unable to compete due to low productivity and high production costs—will be discouraged from rice production,” he said.
“But there are many farmers who have adopted high-yielding seeds, mechanized, adopted better methods who are competitive and, thus, have the opportunity to expand,” Tolentino added. He said the government is already rolling out various safety net measures to help affected Filipino rice farmers cope with the plunge in farm-gate prices caused by surge in rice imports.