TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija—President Duterte on Wednesday said he is more partial to protecting Filipino farmers, and allow them to supply the rice requirement of the Philippines than import the staple.
“There’s free trade, and the Philippines is an open market; but, you know, you have to protect the Filipino [farmers],” Duterte said in his speech during SL Agritech Corp.’s Grand Harvest Festival held here.
“I would look foolish if the government would continue to give assistance to farmers, but they would remain helpless, because rice imports are cheaper,” he added.
The President vowed to ensure that farmers will receive enough assistance from the government to improve their productivity. “We will be able to feed millions of Filipinos if we use government funds wisely.”
Duterte’s pronouncement came three months before the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice expires on June 30. The Philippine waiver on the special treatment on rice, which was approved by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Council for Trade in Goods, has allowed Manila to implement the QR until this year.
Upon the expiration of the waiver, and no later than June 30, Manila’s importation of rice shall be subject to ordinary customs duties in accordance with the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture.
In his speech, the President also said he fired Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) Undersecretary Halmen A. Valdez over the importation of rice done by the private sector under the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme of the WTO.
In a news briefing after SL Agritech’s event, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol confirmed to reporters that Valdez was fired by the President. The President placed the NFA under the supervision of the OCS.
“The President ordered the dismissal of Valdez over the importation of rice. It was Valdez who actually dealt with the NFA regarding the rice imports,” Piñol said.
“NFA Administrator Jason Aquino wanted the government to import rice so that the government could take hold and control it instead of giving [the imports] to the private sector,” he added.
Because of the bumper rice harvest, Piñol said the President has decided to put on hold the purchase of 250,000 MT of rice from abroad. Citing Duterte, Piñol said the government would first evaluate the need to import the staple.
“The President today acted on the appeal of our farmers that the importation of rice be temporarily halted in the face of the bountiful harvest in the first quarter. This does not mean we are against importation; we will import when we needed,” he said.
Farmers are currently harvesting the dry-season rice crop. Piñol said the President would decide on rice importation by the end of the dry season in May.
The Department of Agriculture, he said, sees no immediate need to import rice to boost the buffer stock of the NFA during the lean months, which would start in July.
Earlier Piñol said the country’s rice production in the January-to-March period expanded by 5.34 percent to 4.14 million metric tons (MMT), from the 3.93 MMT recorded in the same period last year despite the decline in harvest area. The DA chief attributed the hike in output to good weather and the use of high-yielding hybrid-rice seeds by farmers.
As early as January, the NFA had requested the NFA Council (NFAC) to allow the importation of 250,000 MT of rice to beef up the food agency’s stocks. To date, the NFAC has not acted on the request of the NFA.
“Delaying further the approval for the government-to-government importation of the 250,000-MT balance could make it more difficult for the NFA to maintain the minimum levels of food-security rice requirement during normal times, more so during the lean months,” Aquino said.
The NFA had planned to bring in the imports this month to preposition the stocks in calamity-prone areas.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
1 comment
Protectionism only hurts the consumers and makes the producer/supplier/farmers inefficient.
Prohibit importation of cheaper rice = Pinoys get to pay higher prices for rice produced by more inefficient small-scale Pinoy rice farmers.
Protected Pinoy rice farmers = no incentive to improve, be efficient, as there is no competition.
Best thing is for govt to open importation of rice, so the whole country benefits from cheaper rice. And at the same time, provide subsidy/help to Pinoy farmers to encourage them to be more efficient/productive to compete later on for the world market.
Kailangan din mag-isip si Duterte bago buksan ang bibig. May matitinong economic advisers naman siya, na mas alam ang cost-benefit ng protectionism. No need to ‘experiment’ or mag-papogi with presscon at the expense of the entire Filipino country.