MANILA -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) will hold next week nationwide consultations to make stakeholders understand the details of the rice tariffication and liberalization law recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
"The face-to-face consultations will include leaders of rice farmers' groups and other rice industry stakeholders, including feed millers who rely (on) the local supply of rice bran for their feed production. While the rice liberalization and tariffication law has been signed and could no longer be amended, the law requires consultations with the stakeholders to gather inputs which would contribute to the crafting of an IRR (implementing rules and regulations) needed to implement the law," DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Piñol said the holding of nationwide consultations and information activities was agreed upon during a meeting Thursday of DA regional directors of the rice program committee, the National Food Authority (NFA), Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), and other agencies involved in the rice program.
The first consultation will be on February 26 at the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) compound in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija for the Northern Luzon cluster. It will cover the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 1 (Ilocos), 2 (Cagayan Valley), and 3 (Central Luzon).
On Feb. 27, it will be held in Lipa City, Batangas for the Southern Luzon cluster, which includes Regions 4-A (Calabarzon), 4-B (Mimaropa), and the Bicol region.
On Feb. 28, the consultation will be in Davao City for all regions in Mindanao, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The last consultation is slated on March 1 in Iloilo City for the Visayas region.
On March 2, Piñol said the DA Policy and Planning Office will work overtime to complete a collated report on the results of the consultations.
"The DA will submit and present this (report) during the NFA Council meeting on March 5. It is expected that NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority), which is the lead agency in the formulation of the IRR, would be present in the meeting," he said.
Meanwhile, Piñol said the DA rice group also came up with strategies on how to possibly provide an "absorber" to the shock that is expected to be felt by local rice farmers with the expected flooding of imported rice.
"One, we agreed that greater support should be given to the Filipino rice farmers and this would come in the form of rice seeds," he said.
However, Piñol said when they computed the amount of money allocated for rice seeds, "we discovered that it would not be enough to cover every rice farmer."
To counter the adverse effect of the inflow of cheap imported rice, Piñol said the DA rice group recommended the introduction of rice seeds of high value and good quality varieties, such as RC 160, RC 218, RC 300, and other rice varieties of good quality.
"If these are introduced to the market, many Filipino consumers would prefer that. Even the local millers and traders buy these varieties at a higher price than the ordinary rice," he said.
He said the government will review the rice sufficiency target.
"We may have to be contented with just 93 percent where we are right now because the inflow of imported rice may affect the prices of rice in the market and further dampen the buying price of palay," he said.
Piñol noted that one feature of the rice liberalization law is the provision that allows the export of local rice without restrictions.
"This may sound ridiculous now but Filipino farmers could actually increase the volume of exports of organic rice, heirloom rice, and upland fancy rice, which command a higher price in foreign markets," he said.
Piñol stressed that "rice farming will continue and must be pursued" despite the challenges that the rice industry is facing.
"The Philippine population is growing at a rate of 1.7 percent while our rice-exporting neighbors also have increasing population. Five to 10 years from now, there will not be enough rice for everybody. If we abandon rice farming now, we will be guilty of abandoning our responsibility to ensure food security for the next generation," he said.
"Admittedly, the challenges are difficult but with God's grace, we will survive and prevail," he added. (PNA)
