RICE SUPPLY. Larry Paraluman, Department of Agriculture-Northern Mindanao chief of the agribusiness and marketing division, shows the supply and demand index in the region on Thursday (Sept. 14, 2023). Paraluman said the region will recover its rice supply when the harvest season in October begins. (PNA photo by Nef Luczon)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Northern Mindanao's supply and demand of rice are expected to recover in October this year which can reduce the region’s current market prices.
In a media briefing on Thursday, Department of Agriculture-Northern Mindanao (DA-10) chief of the agribusiness and marketing division Larry Paraluman said October is projected to yield 132 days’ worth of "index stock."
"Including November with 133 (days of index rice stock); we can see that these months are already the harvest months. That's why we see a high (projected) inventory," Paraluman said, adding that August and September are part of the lean months season every year.
"In August (2023), the (rice) inventory is worth 13 days; in September the inventory is only equivalent to 18 days, based on our inventory which included the imported rice supply," he said.
Paraluman said from January to September this year, some 279,000 metric tons of rice arrived in the port of this city to fill in the rice supply deficiency in the region.
DA-10 Technical Director Carlota Madriaga said while there are 190,192 metric tons of rice in the region for September, supply may increase as farmers have started to harvest.
"The total demand (for September) for Northern Mindanao population is (estimated around) 61,105 metric tons," she said.
Madriaga said there will be an excess of 129,000 metric tons that will last for 88 days if such demand is met.
Executive Order (EO) 39 might not be extended from its 60-day implementation of the price ceiling of regular milled and well-milled rice variants, she said, because of the projected harvest yield in the upcoming months.
Support to traders
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development-10 also started providing cash assistance to micro and small rice traders in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry-10.
The assistance is part of the EO 39 where the beneficiaries were given PHP15,000 each taken from DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) funds.
In Misamis Occidental province, at least PHP210,000 worth of cash subsidy were given to 14 identified small rice retailers in Oroquieta City.
Subsidy payouts in Bukidnon province and Iligan City are still ongoing.
The names of beneficiaries are determined by DTI-10 during their field monitoring activities.
Mary Ann Ranara, a small rice trader in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, said the cash assistance from SLP will help her provide additional stocks of rice to sell.
Close monitoring
Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Villar said Thursday she will monitor agencies that will implement the law against the rice cartels.
“I don't intervene in court cases, but I will closely monitor these agencies that implement the law,” she said in an interview in Davao City.
Villar said the Senate is set to pass this month an amendment to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act to classify cartels and hoarding as acts of economic sabotage.
Cartels and smugglers, she said, are behind the spike in the prices of commercial rice.
“They are the ones manipulating the prices. If you look at the cost of the rice it is low. In Nueva Ecija, they can produce palay at PHP8 per kilo and if it is milled it might be at PHP16 per kilo. Why are they selling it at PHP60 per kilo?,” she said.
Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, said the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and the National Rice Program are a big help to the rice farmers. (PNA)
