The Department of Agriculture will hold a series of consultative meetings with stakeholders related to the impending implementation of the Rice Importation Liberalization Law.
This was announced by Agriculture Manny Piñol to address the growing concern of local rice farmers on the anticipated flooding of imported rice.
“The meeting aims to establish measures to cushion the impact to affected parties, make our stakeholders understand the full details of the law, and solicit comments on the provisions of the Implemented Rules and Regulations (IRR),” Piñol said.
Following a meeting with heads of regional field offices, bureaus and attached agencies, Piñol said that the DA family has agreed to provide greater support to Filipino farmers in the form of rice seeds and fertilizer assistance.
“They will also campaign for and encourage the use of hybrid rice and good quality rice seeds,” he added.
“Based on studies, we learned that restaurants and hotels prefer RC 160, RC 218, and RC 300 because of its good eating quality and aroma, and so we will be planting more of that,” Piñol said.
He said by encouraging farmers to plant good quality rice varieties new markets may open where rice may be sold at higher prices.
The Department will also be setting aside a bigger budget for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
Piñol said that aside from the P10 billion (B) initially allotted for RCEF, DA will be needing an additional P27 B, based on the ($400 x 35 percent) tariff computation.
Meanwhile, the agri chief clarified that the National Food Authority (NFA) would still continue to buy local rice from farmers and sell at lower price.
The setting of rice price and identification of NFA retail markets will be discussed prior to the drafting of the IRR.
“DA’s Policy and Planning units will collate the results of the consultative meetings which will be held in Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Iloilo and Davao, and will be presented during the NFA council meeting on March 5, to be attended by representatives from the National Economic and Development Authority, “Piñol said. ### (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
