This was reported yesterday by the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) which put the blame on the Duterte administration. It said that a sack of rice is now costlier by P50.
“This new round of rice price hike will pose additional burden to the fishing sector which belongs to the country’s poorest of the poor. While Duterte’s band-aid solution to import another batch of 250, 000 metric tons of imported rice is anti-Filipino and negates the country’s pursuit for rice self-sufficiency,” Pamalakaya said in a statement.
Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap lamented that “instead of ensuring that the NFA will procure locally-produced palay from the farmers, the Duterte government maintains the existing anti-farmer, anti-consumer programs that surrender local palay to private sector, while letting imported rice to flood the local market.”
This, even as the independent rice watchdog Bantay Bigas said “the government’s long-standing policy on rice is under the framework of World Trade Organization – Agreement on Agriculture (WTO-AoA) where the country is committed to import rice.
Therefore, the NFA patronages imported rice not only because it is cheaper but to comply with the government’s commitment to the foreign-dictated WTO.”
“The government’s neglect in ensuring rice sufficiency is an economic injustice both to the fisherfolk and poor consumers. The government seems to be backing an artificial rice crisis to make rice importation justifiable. The NFA should purchase more of the local palay as it would not only help the country’s local farmers, but also boost food security in the country,” Hicap also said.
