Groups ask DA for higher palay buying price, better terms for rice farmers

MANILA, Philippines — Farmers groups on Tuesday urged the Department of Agriculture help poor and small-scale tillers by raising the buying price of palay and to make it easier for them to sell their harvest.

The groups made their demands at a protest-dialogue with Agriculture Secretary William Dar at the DA office in Quezon City.

Bantay Bigas said a commitment by the National Food Authority Council to raise the price that the government buys palay to P19 is a victory for farmers but added the price in some areas is still at P10 to P12 per kilogram

Prices can go as low as P7 per kilogram in Isabela and Tarlac provinces, the group said.

"[N]ananatili ang panawagan na itaas ang bili sa palay nang hindi bababa sa P20 kada kilo para madagdagan ang kita ng mga magsasaka sa harap ng napakataas na gastos sa pagsasaka at ng pangunahing bilihin," Cathy Estavillo, Bantay Bigas spokesperson, said.

(The call to raise the buying price of palay to no lower than P20 per kilo remains so our farmers will earn more in the face of the rising cost of farming and the prices of basic goods)

Dar, as Agriculture secretary, is chairperson of the NFA Council

NFA asked to accomodate small-scale farmers

She also said that NFA requirements should be less stringent to "accommodate small-scale and poor farmers who can't afford drying and delivery of their palay to NFA buying stations."

In order to sell their produce, farmers need to get a passbook from the NFA, the National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan) said in a press release.

Requirements include an application form, a community tax certificate, three copies of a 1x1 picture, and certification on landholding from the Municipal Agriculture Office.

The palay they sell must also have a moisture content of 14% and purity of 95-100% to be bought at P19 per kilogram. Palay with a higher moisture or lower purity is bought at lower prices.  

Farmers also incur additional production costs by bringing their harvest to buying stations and due to the inaccessibility of drying facilities, Bantay Bigas said.

Call to repeal rice tariffication

Amihan and Bantay Bigas said they will continue to monitor rice and palay prices as harvest season draws near. 

The peasant groups also renewed their calls to repeal Republic Act 11203, or the Rice Tariffication Law, which removed quantitative restrictions on the volume of imported rice. Bantay Bigas said removign the limits on rice importation has hurt rice farmers.

The protest dialogue is part of a series of protests and activities in October, which activists and farmers mark as Peasant Month.