Farmers urge government to take decisive steps to halt rice smuggling

MANILA, Philippines –  Farmers from Laguna and Nueva Ecija have asked government authorities to take drastic and decisive steps to put an end to rice smuggling which they said “is tantamount to economic sabotage.”  

In a letter-complaint recently sent by former Food Minister and National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jesus Tanchanco to Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez, the farmers said “severe penalty should be meted out to perpetrators of illegal activities such as rice smuggling which is synonymous to economic sabotage.”

The farmers said the smuggled rice reportedly coming from China, found its way to the markets in Metro Manila and provinces in Mindanao and Visayas particularly in Cebu.

In a interview, Tanchanco, who is currently the chairman of food and agro-industry committee of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said rice smuggling is such a contemptible undertaking by syndicates who rake in millions of pesos resulting in massive economic losses for the farmers.

The FPI had earlier signed a cooperation agreement with the Bureau of Customs in the government’s anti smuggling efforts.

“We cannot allow this smuggling activity to further go on at the expense of our poor farmers who are forced to lower their prices just to compete with the cheap smuggled rice,” he said.

Tanchanco said the syndicates are not the only ones making big bucks in the rice smuggling business. Even unscrupulous rice retailers, he said, get their share by buying the smuggled rice from the syndicates and selling it in turn at lower prices thus resulting in the lower pricing of palay.

Tanchanco said China has stopped officially exporting rice some two years ago.

“China, although the biggest producer of rice in the world, has prohibited the exportation of rice more than a year ago. This prohibition can be confirmed from the Trade Counselor of the Chinese Embassy here,” Tanchanco said.