Rice prices start to increase as farming reels from drought

BANSALAN, Davao del Sur—Retail outlets licensed to sell government rice have been asked to sell more of their stocks as prices of milled rice started to rise amid the continuing losses that farms in many Mindanao areas are suffering because of the drought.

The increase in rice prices did not spare this town, which is a major producer of rice in the province, contributing at least 13 percent of the province’s annual rice output of 127,000 metric tons, including that for Davao Occidental, a new province carved out of Davao del Sur.

Modesta Porquiado, a rice dealer, said it had become difficult for millers to procure palay because supply had dwindled as a result of the dry spell.

This is the main reason for the price increase, she said.

The Inquirer checked prices at the public market here and found that milled rice prices had gone up by an average of P2 per kilogram.

A rice variety, known here as 7-tonner, now sells from P40 to P46 per kilogram, from P38 to P44 per kilogram before the drought struck.

Ordinary milled rice now sells at P35 per kilogram from just P30 a few weeks ago.

But the National Food Authority (NFA) said that even with the shortage in palay supply, the province had sufficient rice stocks that could help residents overcome the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.

Virgilio Alerta, NFA Davao provincial manager, said that at the NFA warehouse in Digos City alone, more than 195,000 bags of imported rice were in stock. More rice will be made available to markets in Southern Mindanao in the coming days, when a shipment of 300,000 bags of rice, imported by the government, arrives.

Alerta said NFA outlets were also told to start selling more NFA rice to help consumers amid rising rice prices.

At just P25-P27 per kilogram, he said, NFA rice is superior to commercial rice varieties being sold in markets.

Davao del Sur Gov. Claude Bautista said the provincial government had already started providing assistance to farmers to help in starting rice production despite the drought.

Bautista said the P16-million emergency fund, drawn from the province’s calamity fund, was being spent on water pumps, drought-resistant rice varieties and other forms of assistance. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao