Farmers press demand for higher palay price

A big farmers’ organization is urging the government to raise the support price of palay prices in the country from an average of P7.50 to P15 per kilo in view of the increasing costs of palay production.

Rice farmers, belonging to the nationwide Sanduguan farmers’ organization and Butil, the only elected farmers’ party list group in the country, will hold a rally calling for the tariffication of rice to replace corruption-prone quantitative restrictions on rice administered by the National Food Authority (NFA).

They will also urge for the immediate granting to rice farmers of the power to import rice which is monopolized by the NFA. In her State of the Nation Address, President Arroyo had pronounced that farmers will be allowed to import rice and that rice tarrification will be immediately certified for immediate action by Congress.

Rep. Ben Cruz, chairman of Butil, said "approval of the long overdue raising of palay prices to P15 per kilo will emancipate masses of Filipino farmers from the shackles of economic deprivation and provide them with fair compensation for the fruits of their labor."

According to the solon, while "production of palay today alone costs about P7.50 to P8.00 per kilo, palay prices have not risen significantly and left farmers with profits well below the country’s minimum wage requirement, driving many farmers into poverty and adversely affecting the country’s efforts towards attaining genuine food security."

Anticipating the probable rise in rice prices as an effect of an increase in palay prices, Rep. Cruz proposed that a subsidy of P3 per kilo of palay be given to poor families. He noted that a government subsidy scheme for poor families would amount to P2.5 billion, which is "considerably well below the operational losses incurred by the NFA at P3.6 billion a year."

On the farmers’ demand for the tariffication of rice, the solon elaborated that tariffs as an economic tool is superior and less distortive than quantitative restrictions (QRs).

"Under a QR regime, he explained, there is unstable protection for farmers because decision on how much rice is to be imported, when to import, who will import, where to sell and at what prices, are subject to analytical and bureaucratic limitations, political considerations and opportunities for corruption. "Opening importation to all who are willing to pay the tariff can stabilize domestic prices at some price above world prices," Cruz emphasized.

In a four-page manifesto addressed to President Arroyo, the farmers also asked for the raising of the budget for the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) to at least P40 billion per year, strengthening of farmers’ cooperatives and creation of an Agricultural Board under the DA. Other demands included the restrictions of NFA’s function to local procurement, distribution, warehousing, regulation and marketing assistance.

"It is only through genuine empowerment of the Filipino farmers that we can raise our productivity and move significantly toward the realization of genuine food security in the country," Cruz declared.