EDITORIAL — Rice at P20/kilo

Even when the campaign vow was made for the 2022 presidential race, doubts were already raised about the attainability of selling rice at a market price of P20 a kilo.

At the time, Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine and global prices and supply of chemical fertilizer were still stable. The war in Iran had not yet started, and the peso had not been plumbing historic lows every trading day.

So it was no surprise that last week, the secretary of agriculture himself said the P20-a-kilo market price for rice was no longer possible. Francisco Tiu Laurel said President Marcos was already aware of this.

Tiu Laurel said the government was instead focusing on sustaining until 2028 the provision of heavily subsidized rice to needy families at P20 a kilo.

Since it’s a state-subsidized commodity, there’s nothing stopping the government from selling rice to the needy even at prices below P20. Pegging the amount at P20 per kilo is inevitably seen as a move to allow the government to claim that the President delivered on the most dramatic promise he made during the 2022 campaign.

The Marcos administration, however, still has two years to significantly improve the plight of marginal farmers, and not just those engaged in rice production.

Authorities can take advantage of the ongoing rush to roll out science-based engineering interventions for flood control. Those water detention systems being planned across the country can incorporate farmers’ irrigation needs when water supply runs low.

Scientists have warned of a “supersized” El Niño whose full strength will be felt in a few months. Without water impounding for gradual release during the arid months, such an El Niño would be catastrophic particularly for rice farms, which need a lot of water.

Farm-to-market roads can also be delivered quickly. With the agriculture department taking over the task from the corruption-plagued Department of Public Works and Highways, FMR projects are expected to be expedited.

The government can also speed up the delivery of more cold chain facilities that President Marcos has been promising since he was serving concurrently as agriculture secretary.

That self-appointment was meant to emphasize the importance he attached to agriculture. His one year in the post, however, was marred by a spike in rice prices plus shortages of eggs, large potatoes, pork and large broilers, along with a scandal over sugar importation and an unprecedented acute shortage of onions that sent prices into the stratosphere.

Another man is now in charge of agriculture. While P20-a-kilo rice at market prices has become mission impossible until 2028, the Marcos administration still has time to boost the livelihoods of rice farmers, and stabilize the supply and market prices of rice.