The government is planning to use part of the revenue it will collect from the conversion of the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice into tariffs for the procurement of local hybrid rice seeds for farmers, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. noted that Filipino farmers are encountering difficulties in procuring hybrid rice seeds, which would allow them to produce more palay.
Roque said the government will prioritize the purchase of hybrid rice seeds once the QR is finally converted into tariffs.
“Our farmers cannot afford hybrid rice seeds so the tariffs that we can get from rice imports could be spent on the procurement of hybrid rice seeds by local farmers to increase their productivity and help in achieving the country’s rice self-sufficiency,” Roque said in a radio interview in Filipino.
He also agreed that the country’s agricultural productivity is low compared to its neighbors in Asia.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno told the BusinessMirror that the tariffs that will be collected from rice imports after the QR is lifted should become part of the “agriculture modernization fund.”
“[The money] should be used to modernize agriculture, appropriately crafted, but not as unconditional cash transfer to farmers,” Diokno said.
The conversion of the QR into tariffs is expected to bring down the prices of rice to as much as P7 per kilogram.
Last month the House has passed its version of the rice tariffication bill on third and final reading. Its version included a provision mandating the creation of Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which would consist of all the tariffs earned from rice imports. The fund will be used to help rice farmers become competitive.
Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, head of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, vowed that the upper chamber will pass the rice tariffication bill within the month after the Economic Development Cluster recommended the fast-tracking the measure as one of the nonmonetary inflation busters.
Malacañang has also urged the Senate to pass the measure within the month after the August inflation rate surged to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent.
According to the House version of the rice tariff bill, the country will also impose a bound tariff rate of 35 percent for rice from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region, regardless of volume while the country will impose a 40-percent bound tariff most-favored nation rate for in-quota rice imports from countries that do not belong to the Asean.
The country’s MAV for rice shall also revert to its 2012 level of 350,000 metric tons from the current 805,000 MT.
The bill designates the National Food Authority (NFA) as the sole authority that will undertake the direct importation of rice to ensure food security and maintain sufficient national buffer stocks.
The NFA will be authorized to allocate permits among certified and licensed importers and to issue guidelines for the export of rice and corn by licensed traders.
The President will also adjust the applied rate; regulate rice exports, impose temporary regulations or restrictions on the volume of imports of rice; and enter into trade negotiations or renegotiations relating to the bound or maximum rates committed to or to be committed by the Philippines in relation to rice.