Stabilizing rice prices

Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. recently declared a food security emergency on rice due to the current high commodity price. This was after the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) recommended that the DA do so. This means that rice stored in National Food Authority (NFA) warehouses will be released into the market to help curb the high price. The target is for local rice to sell at ?38/kilo. The stocks will be given to government agencies and local government units to be sold in the markets. The declaration does not mean a rice shortage, just to be clear. The last thing we need is to create panic among consumers. The NFA plans to release about 300,000 metric tons of rice.

Our rice farmers will also benefit from the declaration. Since the NFA’s inventory will be reduced, they will resume buying from farmers to maintain a prescribed rice inventory in NFA warehouses. Our farmers are at a constant disadvantage because of the amount of rice imported from other countries. Imported rice should be more expensive but for some reason, farmers cannot compete with imported rice in terms of pricing.

The government also blames unscrupulous traders or even rice cartels that hoard rice to create an artificial shortage to raise prices. The tariff on rice has been decreased from 35% to 15%, but they do not immediately release it to the market. Why the government cannot dismantle these syndicates or cartels is surprising.

It is also surprising that an agricultural country like ours cannot keep up rice production with rice consumption. This is the reason why it is necessary to import imported rice that directly competes with local farmers. We cannot adopt the Vietnam model from where a sizeable bulk of our rice imports come from. Rice is a staple food for Filipinos especially in low-income bracket families. You will rarely see someone eating without it. A meal isn’t as satisfying without a bowl of rice.

Making the country self-sufficient in rice has been a perennial challenge to the DA. We have the land to grow but irrigation is another problem. Rice is known to require a large amount of water to grow. Local farmers suffer when both dry and wet seasons go overboard. It is not yet known when Sec. Tiu Laurel's food security emergency on rice will be lifted. Only he can do this. If the price of local and imported rice stabilizes at levels he is satisfied with, he may lift the emergency.