Agriculture Sec. Piñol: 'Rice prices to stabilize by November 2018'

MANILA, Philippines — Rice prices are expected to stabilize in November when the harvest season starts, although prices will not likely go below P40 per kilo, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said yesterday.

Piñol made this forecast during deliberations on the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s proposed P55.9-billion budget for 2019 by the Senate finance sub-committee, chaired by Sen. Cynthia Villar.

Prior to the price surge, commercial rice was sold at P35 to P40 per kilo while National Food Authority (NFA) rice was at P27 per kilo.

The agriculture chief said the new price level was because traders are now buying from farmers “fresh” palay at P22 to P25, and P29 per kilo for “dry” palay.

“If it’s any comfort, the price change has led to expansion of more rice areas,” he said, adding that farmers are already starting their harvest this month and which is expected to end by October.

Villar and Sens. Joseph Victor Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri supported Piñol’s push to revive his proposal to give beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) rice instead of cash to buy food to help them cope with the rising inflation while helping farmers increase their income. 

There are about 4.4 million families benefiting from the 4Ps who were allocated P89 billion for this year under the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Piñol said 4Ps beneficiaries – or the poorest segment of the population – are given additional cash subsidies supposedly to allow them to buy rice. However, he claimed that there is no guarantee the beneficiaries were using the cash grants to buy rice, adding that over P35 billion would be infused to the farming sector if the subsidy was converted to grain.

He told the senators the program was ready for implementation with the involvement of farmers’ cooperatives but the DSWD opposed it, saying it was difficult to implement.

Sen. Francis Escudero questioned why the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed the DA’s proposed budget by P49 billion when the country was experiencing what can be argued as a food crisis. Piñol said he was warned by economic managers not to lobby before senators to increase the budget.

Meanwhile, House appropriations committee chairman and Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles yesterday called on the NFA leadership to start procuring palay from farmers this early.

“The NFA has not had a good track record in procuring rice from local farmers, but if there is a time for them to step up and intensify their rice procurement operations, this is it,” he suggested. 

The NFA Council, according to him, should also increase the buying price of palay from the current P17 to at least P22 if it wants to compete with local rice traders. 

Nograles said that with rice buffer stocks down to three days as reported by the NFA and imported rice not expected to arrive in the country until November, “the onus is on the NFA to find and purchase additional rice stocks as soon as possible.” The three days is far lower than the minimum 15-day buffer stock the NFA is required to maintain.

“The NFA has to try to secure as much rice locally because one, if they do not buy the palay stocks, these might be adversely affected by the coming super typhoon. Two, if the country continues to get hit by strong typhoons, the NFA will need a healthy buffer stock to allow it to distribute rice for government relief operations in the provinces that will be affected,” he added.

In Bulacan, the Department of Trade and Industry, NFA and private rice traders are expected to launch several outlets that will sell rice at only P38 per kilo in several depressed areas in the province.

Roderico Sulit, vice president of the Golden City Business Park Association and spokesman for the Bulacan Rice Millers Association, informed Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez that the plan was hatched after the association members coordinated with rice importers and NFA on the possibility of selling imported rice at cheap prices. – With Delon Porcalla, Ramon Lazaro