The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said removing the National Food Authority’s (NFA) power to issue import licenses would harm local farmers as the government will lose a tool that will prevent a glut in domestic rice supply.
Former Agriculture Secretary and FFF National Policy Board Chairman Leonardo Q. Montemayor said the Senate’s version of tariffication bill that seeks to remove the NFA’s licensing power is “worrisome.”
“Almost all countries, including those in Asean, and even advanced countries like Japan and Korea, require all rice importers to obtain licenses so that imports can be monitored and kept within bounds,” Montemayor said in a statement on Thursday.
In a separate interview, FFF National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said the loss of government regulation over imports could lead to an oversupply in the domestic market, which could slash the income of farmers.
“The problem is that without any tool to rein in on imports [if needed], there could easily be overimportation and oversupply in the market leading to very low rice, and therefore, palay prices,” he said.
“We are not against imports, but there must be some way to manage imports so that they do not go out of hand. Most countries use licensing, others were able to set their tariffs at very high levels and they adjust it when needed, and others give a monopoly over rice imports to a state agency like the NFA,” he added.
The FFF also questioned the Senate’s decision to reject proposals to allow rice farmers and their organizations to advise the Department of Agriculture (DA) on the use of the proposed rice competitiveness enhancement fund (RCEF). The RCEF is an earmarking fund to the rice industry coming from all the rice tariffs collected.
“We just think that the farmers should have a say in how that money is spent, because it is supposed to benefit them. In the past [with the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund], there was no such consultative mechanism and the money was wasted,” Montemayor said.
“And if we leave it up to the DA, chances are they will favor their own priorities. We want to use the money for truly innovative projects that do not get funding support at present,” he added.
The FFF also criticized the “pre-allocation” of the RCEF for certain government programs, removing the policy space for the DA to adjust to the needs of the rice farmers.
“Worse, the Senate version proposes to bypass the DA secretary in the allocation of the RCEF, so that the money will go directly to selected DA line agencies,” Montemayor said.
“The RCEF has also already been pre-allocated for certain programs, so that it cannot be used for other programs that farmers may want or need in the future,” he added.
Montemayor said the farmers should have the right to participate in the utilization of the RCEF as they are the ones supposed to benefit from it.
The pre-allocation of the RCEF, which is a sort of grant to government agencies, “contradicts” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol’s soft loan programs, according to Montemayor.
“This will clash with Secretary Piñol’s plan of providing soft loans as a form of support to farmers so that they have the freedom to choose what brand and type of inputs they want to buy,” he explained.
Image credits: Alysa Salen