Clear rice policy
The current dilemma facing the National Food Authority (NFA) and the interagency NFA Council (NFAC) concerning rice imports are symptomatic of what has been ailing the Philippine government when it comes to its economic policies, particularly those that affect the farm sector. Members of the NFAC, including its ex-oficio Chairman Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr., have announced that the government is not keen on importing the buffer stock of the food agency. To beef up the NFA’s rice inventory for the lean months, when farmers do not harvest rice because typhoons usually hit the country from July to September, the NFAC said the government should expand its procurement program instead of buying rice from abroad. The NFAC said private-sector imports under the so-called minimum access volume (MAV) scheme would also prop up Philippine rice inventory in the coming months.