House solon: PBBM’s P20 per kilo rice ‘possible’
MAGSASAKA party-list Rep. Argel Cabatbat has expressed the belief that President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’ campaign promise and “aspiration” to slash rice prices to P20 per kilo is “possible”.
Cabatbat backed the program by underscoring the importance of implementing appropriate and timely measures.
According to Cabatbat, the first step is for policymakers to have faith in Filipino farmers by giving them all the support they need to revitalize the rice planting activities.
This means pouring more money into the agriculture sector.
The legislator projects a budget of at least P400-billion to ensure basic support services and infrastructure and cut the high cost of production, marketing, and labor-intensive farm practices.
Cabatbat cited the Thailand and Vietnam experience, where full government support and a comprehensive mechanization program allowed the nations to enjoy higher yields and cheaper production costs in recent years.
These rice-exporting countries, he suspected, may form a rice cartel due to the high global demand for rice.
“We should not doubt the capability of local farmers to produce cheap and quality rice. With enough support, appropriate policy changes, the removal of middlemen or brokers, and the right managers in the Department of Agriculture [DA] who are pro-farmers, P20 per kilo of rice is possible,” Cabatbat said.
The lawmaker is also looking at successful models like the Agrarian Reform department’s “megafarm” concept and the Provincial Food Council of Nueva Ecija’s program.
Both have had fair success in increasing the yield and profit of farmers in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija while lowering rice prices for consumers.
At the same time, Cabatbat is calling for a review of the Rice Tariffication Law which only allowed imports to flood local markets.
He also stressed the need for food sovereignty. “Masyado kasi tayong umaasa sa ibang bansa para sa suplay natin ng pagkain. Hindi natin namamalayang pinapatay nito ang sektor ng agrikultura at ang ekonomiya dahil naka-depende na tayo eh. Magtiwala tayo sa sarili nating mga magsasaka na kaya namang mag-produce ng sapat, mura at de-kalidad na bigas at bilihin para sa bawat Pilipino,” the lawmaker concluded.
