Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 4) – The Department of Agriculture on Wednesday denied a report saying farmers have lost more than ₱60 billion in revenues since the law that allows unlimited rice imports was implemented nearly a year ago.
“Hindi naman sila nalugi ng P68 billion eh [They did not lose P68 billion],” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in an economic press briefing in Malacañang in Manila, reacting to the study by farmers group Federation of Free Farmers.
However, Dar was mum when asked if the government can guarantee the farmers would not suffer any more financial losses, arguing they should not solely rely on the government and must work hard to increase their harvest so they could yield a higher income.
“Well ang isang farmer, hindi naman lahat ay i-ano mo sa gobyerno. Dapat magsipag at mas mapataas pa yung ani niya at ipababa niya ang cost of production niya … then that will give them more opportunities in terms of higher income,” the top agriculture official said.
He said the government is “more prepared” to cushion the blow on farmers of low prices of palay, but he acknowledged authorities need to do a much better job in implementing the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund which is designed to assist farmers losing out from the flood of cheaper imported rice under the Rice Tariffication Law.
Dar mentioned gains from the policy such as the collection of P12.3 billion worth of tariffs last year which will all be used to fund the programs under RCEF as well as lower prices of goods for consumers.
One of the aims of RCEF programs is to cut rice production cost by half, from P12 to P6 per kilo, in six years. The DA budget for this is P10 billion per year until 2024.
The official also said they were able to give P1.4 billion worth of cash aid to nearly 280,000 affected farmers from 33 provinces. He added Land Bank was able to release P459 million worth of credit to 469 farmers and 19 cooperatives.
Data from the US Foreign Agricultural Services show that almost three million metric tonnes of rice went to the Philippines last year, making the country the top rice importer in the world in 2019.
