SIMULATED SHORTAGE? A rice vendor at Kamuning Public Market in Quezon City tends to his produce as the government readies rice imports. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) has formally asked President Marcos, also the country’s agriculture secretary, to abolish the National Food Authority (NFA) for supposedly failing to support the local rice industry.
“It is very unfortunate that officials of the NFA have not heeded your marching order of prioritizing local production and supporting local producers,” Sinag chair Rosendo So said in an Aug. 22 letter to Mr. Marcos.
“The NFA administrator even went to India to negotiate the importation of rice despite the NFA having no mandate on rice importations,” he added.
So expressed “deep concern” about the NFA having a buffer stock of only 1.56 days, showing that it failed to build up the stock by purchasing local produce. This resulted in panic buying of palay (unhusked rice) among farmers, millers and traders.
Sinag claimed that had the NFA used its P8.5-billion budget properly, it could have secured 447,368.42 metric tons (MT) of palay, or about 290,798.47 MT of rice, equivalent to 5.8 million bags of rice.
So cited a DA data showing that the average farm-gate price of palay between last year and April this year was less than P19 per kilogram, well within the NFA allocation for palay procurement. “But there seems to be no intention from the NFA to buy palay and help our local farmers.”
Way off target
Last month, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported that the NFA maintained an average rice inventory of only 140,354 MT in 2022, good only for 4.18 days and way off the nine-day inventory target.
For 2022, the NFA was given a P7-billion subsidy so that it could maintain a stock of 300,000 MT.
The COA also blamed NFA’s inability or unwillingness to purchase rice from local farmers.
The NFA has yet to issue an official response to Sinag’s complaints or COA’s audit report, but NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco said during a House budget hearing on Tuesday that the NFA needs a budget of P28.71 billion to come up with a stockpile of at least 15 days.
Bioco said the amount, if approved, would be used to purchase about 870,000 MT of palay from domestic producers.
But even Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said at a Palace briefing that “there’s a lot of catching up” in the country’s agriculture sector and attaining President Marcos’ vow to bring down rice prices to P20 per kilogram won’t be easy.
‘Neglected for decades’
“Our position has always been that we need to increase productivity in agriculture, all right? What drives low prices are increases in productivity,” Balisacan said.
He cited that the country’s current yield is about 4 tons per hectare and the government needs to invest in irrigation, modern high-yielding varieties, and pest control to raise the production to 6 or 7 tons per hectare just like many other countries.
“We have neglected agriculture for decades and that’s what we are trying now to reverse. We are putting a lot of resources into agriculture intended to create those productivity growth,” he added.
Balisacan was hedgy when asked if rice prices could decrease to P20 a kilo and said “I can’t say that, ‘Oh, by next we should be able to.’ That’s asking for the moon.”
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