The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is ready to implement the suggested retail price (SRP) on selected farm products by next week with the expected completion of the price matrix this week.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he has already received initial feedback from industry stakeholders regarding the SRP matrix for selected farm products.
However, Piñol said he still needs to meet with the stakeholders for the finalization of the SRP matrix.
“I will have to meet with the stakeholders on Friday,” he told reporters in an interview on the sidelines of a cleanup program in Kawit, Cavite, on June 20.
“Hopefully we will be able to [release the matrix] on Friday. [It will contain SRP] on selected commodities first, including rice, vegetables and fish,” he added.
The agriculture chief said the SRP should be effective by next week.
The DA said they would release an SRP on well-milled and regular-milled varieties of rice, eggplant, pechay, galunggong, tilapia and milkfish.
As for poultry products, including broilers and eggs, Piñol said it would depend on the concerned industry stakeholders. “We do not have yet the effort to really pressure them with their report [on cost of production],” he said.
Piñol, likewise, said the agency remains lukewarm to the idea of releasing SRP on livestock products, including pork, as the prices of these commodities are volatile.
Piñol said they will review the SRP every 15 days to adjust with the price movements of the farm products. There would be also a different SRP for every region in the country, Piñol added.
The agriculture chief disclosed that his proposal to impose mandatory packaging for rice sold in the market will be implemented within the year.
Piñol said the proposal would be implemented at the millers level and would require them to repack rice at a particular weight.
These weight variations include: 1 kilogram, 2 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg and 25 kg, like how premium rice is sold in the supermarkets, according to Piñol.
The measure seeks to ensure the food safety of rice, as the staple is merely sold in open boxes in the market, according to Piñol.
“In the context of ensuring food safety, we are even looking at implementing in the future a system where rice should not be sold in open boxes in stalls. It is not hygienic,” he said in an interview last week.
“What if a buyer coughs, then the virus gets into the rice what if a leper touches the rice?” he added.
Last week Piñol said the DA is now scrutinizing some of the current practices in rice trade, including the way the staple is packaged and labeled by retailers and millers.
The imposition of a labeling requirement on rice products would aid the DA’s monitoring in its implementation of SRP on the staple, which is slated to start next week, Piñol said.
“We are now reviewing from the policy side of DA the practice of rice retailers in the industry wherein they will just put up all sorts of tags to their rice like blue diamond, long grain. We’re doing to it to justify pricing,” Piñol told reporters in a recent interview.
“It should be properly labelled [based on its variety] like, is it well-milled, regular-milled or fancy rice? So we can regulate the price,” Piñol added.
Piñol said the measure will not be implemented right away, but it will be a key policy direction in terms of food safety. Piñol said they will leverage the Food Safety Act of 2013 as basis for this packaging and labeling requirement.
The Food Safety Act of 2013 mandates the DA to ensure food safety in the “primary production and postharvest stages of the food-supply chain and locally produced or imported” products.
“The DA shall be responsible for the development and enforcement of food-safety standards and regulations for food in the primary production and postharvest stages of the food-supply chain,” Section 16 of the law states.
“It shall monitor and ensure that the relevant requirements of the law are complied with by farmers, fisherfolk and food-business operators,” it added.
The Food Safety Act also cites the need for a traceability system in the country’s food chain.
“Traceability shall be established for foods at relevant stages of production, postharvest handling, processing or distribution, when needed to ensure compliance with food-safety requirements,” it read.
“The rule on traceability shall also cover production inputs, such as feeds, food additives, ingredients, packaging materials and other substances expected to be incorporated into a food or food product,” it added.