A lawmaker on Tuesday called for the swift passage of a bill that would require the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to buy palay from local planters for its rice subsidy program.
Deputy House Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said he has filed House Bill 5583 that requires the DSWD to buy unhusked rice from local farmers, and distribute this as subsidy, instead of cash, to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.
Villafuerte said the DSWD should do this in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Food Authority (NFA) as price support to help farmers cope with the “detrimental effects” of the deregulation of the rice industry.
He noted that under the 2019 General Appropriations Act, the allocation for rice subsidy amounts to P28.51 billion, and the same amount has been allocated for 2020.
Villafuerte’s bill is pending at the House Committee on Appropriations.
“The administration’s goal of eradicating extreme poverty in the country by 2040, and lowering poverty incidence to just 11 percent by 2022 would get a significant boost if rural incomes go up by way of higher farm-gate prices of palay, given that most Filipinos living below the poverty line live in the countryside,” he said in a statement.
He added that both committees at both chambers of Congress should fast-track the passage of the bill to help local growers recover the losses they incurred due to the drop in palay farm-gate prices.
“Congress can throw a lifeline to the country’s beleaguered rice farmers by reversing the continued plunge in farm-gate prices of palay by way of a measure that would let government buy this year a sizable volume of the grain from local growers for use in the multibillion-peso annual rice subsidy program for low-income families,” said Villafuerte.
As the retail prices of rice continued to fall, the average farm-gate price of paddy posted a turnaround in the first week of January, rising by 1.02 percent to P15.79 per kilograms, from P15.63 per kg in the last week of December.
However, the latest average buying price for unhusked rice was 20.85 percent lower than the quotation of nearly P20 per kg last year, data from the PSA showed.
Historical PSA data showed that the average farm-gate price of palay is still the lowest in eight years owing to the detrimental effects of higher rice imports.
On an annual basis, the average farm-gate price of palay in 2019 settled at P16.20 per kg, 20 percent lower than the average quotation of P20.20 per kg in 2018, the PSA said in a separate report.
Also, the average palay price last year was the lowest in eight years as its previous average price of P16.20 per kg was recorded in 2012, according to historical PSA data.
Image credits: Bernand Testa