MANILA, Philippines — A farmer group on Friday slammed the National Food Authority’s (NFA) proposal to import 330,000 metric tons of rice, saying that the suggestion goes against the agency’s own mandate.
The NFA had previously suggested in a meeting with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.,who concurrently serves as the Agriculture chief, that importation is needed to augment a projected deficit of rice buffer stock.
READ: NFA should increase rice buffer stock, Marcos says
“Ang sabi ng Pangulo: ‘hindi tayo magkukulang sa bigas.’ Buffer stocking na nga lang ang binibili ng NFA sa mga magsasaka, gusto pa mag-import na lang. Importation for emergency buffer stocking is against the NFA’s mandate to solely purchase rice from local farmers,” said Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairman emeritus Rafael Mariano in a statement.
(The president said: ‘we will not be short of rice.’ The NFA already just buys buffer stock from farmers, now they just want to import. Importation for emergency buffer stocking is against the NFA’s mandate to solely purchase rice from local farmers.)
According to the NFA’s website, its mandate is to “maintain sufficient rice buffer stocks to be sourced solely from local farmers”.
The KMP also asserted that the NFA contradicted earlier sentiments from Marcos, who had claimed that there was enough rice stock.
READ: Marcos: PH closer to rice self-sufficiency in 2 years with major gov’t reorganization
Mariano, who was also a former Secretary for the Department of Agrarian Reform, said that the NFA should stick to helping local farmers.
“The first order for the Department of Agriculture and the NFA should be to help farmers increase their productivity to achieve the targeted rice production and augment the rice buffer stock. The NFA pushing for rice importation is a great disservice to farmers and Filipinos,” said Mariano.