INSTEAD of exporting, the national government has been urged to buy palay from the local farmers.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) made this statement as its members strongly opposed the plan of the National Food Authority (NFA) to import some 330,000 metric tons of rice to augment the projected deficit in local rice production.

The KMP reminded the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the NFA of their duties to help farmers increase their productivity to achieve the targeted rice production and augment the rice buffer stock.

The country’s current buffer stock is at 51 days or lower than the ideal 90 days. NFA attributed this to the low rice importation.

KMP strongly rebuffed the NFA importation proposal as it maintained that the government should be buying more rice from farmers rather than allowing rice importers to make a killing.

The KMP noted that the Rice Tariffication Law has scrapped the NFA’s mandate to buy local palay from rice farmers. Current palay farmgate prices are at P23/kilo for dry and P18.50/kilo to P19/kilo for fresh.

The NFA wants to buy palay at P19/kilo. The group also maintained that the increasing rice prices in retail markets are a persistent result of price manipulation of the rice cartel.

KMP said there is an imperative need to hike the local palay procurement to reach at least 20 percent. Doing this will boost the local rice industry, and aid Filipino rice farmers. The NFA must also regain the upper hand in the buying and selling of rice to influence rice retail prices that are now heavily manipulated by rice traders and importers.

KMP earlier proposed to increase the NFA buffer stocking fund to P79.8-billion for the procurement of at least 20 percent of the estimated 19.96 million MT of local palay production from local farmers at the farm gate price of P20 per kilo.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Jester P. Manalastas