Rice sufficiency down under Duterte – farmers

FARMERS’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) President Rosendo So on Saturday said the country’s rice sufficiency dropped to 85 percent during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte compared to the 95 percent rice sufficiency during the time of the late former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd.

In a radio interview, So said the country’s local palay (unmilled rice) production suffered amid the unchecked importation of rice.

“We need to boost our local rice production as during the last administration it dropped to 85 percent, compared to 95 percent six years ago,” So added.

So said the retail prices of imported rice are also higher compared to the local rice sold in the wet markets.

“If we compare the prices of imported rice to locally produced rice, the prices of imported rice are higher. At present, we import from Thailand and Vietnam with a 35 percent tariff. Local production is still important,” he said.

So said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. acknowledged the importance of local palay production, as he ordered the realignment of P4 billion to assist the farmers.

“For this cropping season, the President allocated P4 billion to support the farmers with a P6,600 subsidy per hectare for fertilizer. This is a big help to our farmers. If it’s not the President who sits as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the realignment of funds to assist the farmers would not have happened,” So said.

He noted that a farmer spends at least P19,200 for fertilizer for every hectare of farmland.

“This means from P19,200, a farmer needs to spend P12,000, so the action of the President is really helpful,” he said.

However, So admitted that the reforms being implemented by the current administration cannot be felt immediately.

“We expect that this year and next year, our palay production will not yet recover as it takes time to improve seed production. The seeds we produce need to increase to at least six tons from the current four tons, that’s why the President monitors the seed production and fertilizer cost of the farmers,” he said.

So said aside from high fertilizer costs, the farmers are also affected by the increase in the prices of petroleum products.

“Farmers use at least 300 liters of fuel. A farmer spends at least P23,400 at P78 per liter of diesel compared to the P8,700 as diesel was only P29 per liter a year and half ago,” he said.

So said that the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between Sinag and the National Food Authority (NFA) helped farmers to sell their palay at P19 per kilo.

“So far, members of Sinag buy palay to farmers from P19 to P20 per kilo. It helped the farmers as for the past month, you cannot hear complaints from the farmers regarding the low farmgate price of palay,” he said.

Sinag said the move of his group aims to encourage farmers to plant again.

“Farmers are really suffering from the high production cost, and we talked to the millers to buy from the farmers to encourage them to plant again this cropping season. Farmers will not plant if they will not earn,” he noted.

So said the move also ensures the staple prices of local rice in the market.

“The millers deliver directly to Metro Manila and based on our monitoring, prices of local rice are lower than the imported rice. Millers deliver rice at P34 per kilo so the retailers can sell between P38 to P40 per kilo at P4 per kilo profit,” he noted.

Based on the price monitoring of the DA, the retail prices of regular milled rice ranged from P37 to P40 per kilo, local well milled rice from P40 to P44 per kilo, local premium rice from P45 to P48 per kilo, and local special rice from P50 to P56 per kilo.

On the other hand, imported regular milled rice P37 to P38, imported well milled rice ranged from P40 to P44 per kilo, imported premium rice from P45 to P48 per kilo, and imported special rice from P46 to P54 per kilo.