Harvest is good, but palay prices low. Thus, lament Ecija farmers. Photo by Armand M. Galang
CABANATUAN CITY — “A heartache,” said Donie Roberto, a farmer from Barangay Bitas here, of what he felt after selling his rice harvest at P15.50 a kilo on Sept. 7.
“(May) kita na pero sobrang maliit,” he said, saying that through all his years in rice farming the P17–per kilo farm gate price should be the lowest to somehow recompensate for his labor.
Roberto was even luckier than fellow farmers who are currently harvesting their crops as farm gate price drops to P12 to P13 a kilo in private trading, owing to peak harvesting and occasional rains that threaten the quality of grains.
“Ang masakit, pagtama ng unang patak ng ulan sa lupa ay asahan mong babagsak ang presyo,” he said.
Roberto is one of the Nueva Ecija farmers who joined thousands in social media campaign #sabay_sabay_ ipanawagan_na_itaas_ang_presyo_ng-palay_challenge.
At least 46,000 people have joined as of writing.
In his visit in Lupao, Nueva Ecija earlier this week, Agriculture Sec. William Dar assured farmers that the National Food Authority will “take an extra mile” in intensifying palay procurement efforts to help local farmers.
The NFA, he said, would even pick up palay from barangays
“Patuloy ang pamimili ng NFA ng palay, sa halagang P19 per kilo, at 14 percent moisture content,” Dar said.
Provincial agriculturist Bernardo Valdez said the provincial food council is now buying palay at a price higher than the prevailing price.
In this city, Vice Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara said the city government has acquired loan agreement from the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to facilitate the procurement of grains from the local rice farmers.
This, he said, is to command price increase.
The program, Vergara noted, should have started for the last dry crop season but was temporarily halted since palay price was high. The price of palay then skyrocketed to P19 to P20 a kilo, it was learned.
Reports said NFA Nueva Ecija is set to procure some 485,000 bags of palay up to the last quarter of the year, with allotted budget of P461 million.
Some farmers though have remained skeptical of theNFA’s procurement program, noting the agency’s lack of vehicles or trucks to pick the grains up.
“Wala silang pahinante, ikaw magbabayad. Pati truck ay ikaw ang magbabayad,” a farmer said.
