Rice supply sufficient, NFA assures public

SAN JUAN, La Union , Philippines   â€“ The National Food Authority (NFA) office here yesterday said rice stock for Region 1 is sufficient as palay harvest season has started in some areas.

NFA Region 1 director Carlito Co said the early harvest is seen to further boost the region’s rice buffer stock, which is still at a safe level.

Co said the early harvest is a welcome development for the food agency, which intends to buy around 1.4 million bags of palay from farmers.

“Our farmers in the region, such as those in Dingras and Solsona, Ilocos Norte, have started harvesting their palay as early as last week of August. There are also reports of early harvest in some areas of Alaminos City and Mangatarem in Pangasinan,” Co said.

It was also reported earlier that farmers in Western and Eastern Visayas, Western and Southern Mindanao and Cagayan Valley have also kicked off harvest of palay.

“This is expected to go on and intensify by October to November,” Co said.

He said monitoring of farmers’ harvest is part of the NFA’s procurement strategy as it intends to capture a sizable portion of the palay produced by farmers during the main cropping season for the country’s food stock. 

Prices increasing

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), on the other hand, yesterday warned the public of an intense rice crisis and blamed the government’s failure to dismantle rice cartels and address high rice prices.

“Rice prices have been steadily increasing for almost two months now and the Department of Agriculture (DA) has done nothing to pull down and control prices,” said KMP deputy secretary-general Willy Marbella.

“Instead of taking decisive action to prosecute and dismantle rice cartels who are manipulating rice prices and hoarding supply, all we can hear from DA officials is that ‘the country has enough supply of rice’ and that ‘the increase should not exceed P1 to P2 due to the lean months’,” he said.

The KMP noted that the retail price of rice in the local market on Monday increased to P35 to P37, or a P3 to P5 increase from P32 to P34 during the first round of price increases in early July.

Senate to probe rice price hike

For its part, the Senate committee on agriculture and food is set to conduct an inquiry into the increasing price of rice in the market.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the committee, yesterday said the inquiry has been set in response to the resolution filed by Sen. Loren Legarda calling for a probe into the actual supply of rice in the country.         

“We will call for an investigation on the increase in cost of rice anytime next week. In the process, we will also look into the smuggling of rice and onions, and the reported hoarding of rice by some groups,” Villar said.

In her resolution, Legarda said the increase in the price of rice can imply either an insufficient supply in the market or the presence of manipulative forces adversely affecting its price dynamics.

Legarda noted that the price of the lowest variety of commercial grade rice available in the market rose from P27 to P34 per kilo within a few months.

The DA has stated that the price increases are a result of artificial shortages caused by rice millers and rice traders.

This was debunked by rice millers, who blamed the hike in rice prices on the alleged shortage of palay.

Villar said rice, being the country’s staple food, should be readily available and remain affordable to all, especially the poor Filipinos.

“Rice sufficiency and its affordability are among our concerns in the conduct of this Senate inquiry,” said Villar.

– With Rhodina Villanueva, Ding Cervantes, Marvin Sy