Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 22) – A local rice producer appealed to the government to provide more support to farmers and farm producers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chen Yi Agventures Inc. president and co-owner Rachel Renucci-Tan emphasized that farmers need to have increased productivity and not high palay prices.
“Higher palay prices will hurt the Filipino consumers and make us rely on cheap, low-quality imported rice, which is what we are doing today,” noted Renucci-Tan.
She added that palay prices are spiking, now at ₱18 per kilo. While the increase in palay prices is good for the farmers, she said that it is on the contrary for local farm producers like them.
“When we process the rice, in palay alone is already ₱36 per kilo. Imported rice with taxes is priced at ₱31 per kilo and before COVID-19 pandemic, it is ₱26 per kilo,” said Renucci-Tan.
Renucci-Tan suggested the government must regulate the palay prices to also support local farm producers in coping with the impact of the pandemic.
“If we are not supported either by government or LGU and we just have low productivity for farmers and high palay prices and with cheap imported rice, producers like ourselves will also get wiped out,” she added.
Despite the doubling of rice production prices due to the pandemic, Renucci-Tan said they continue to purchase palays from the farmers as a way of helping them relieve the economic effects of the virus.
She also praised the Department of Agriculture’s cash subsidy to farmers during the pandemic, but lamented it is not enough for them to be financially stable and increase their farm output.
“We need to get them out of debt. How do we get them out of debt is by increasing their productivity and working with private groups like ourselves that provide high-quality inputs with low interest rates,” she said.
Beyond the free seeds provided by the government to the farmers, Renucci-Tan also appealed for the government to distribute high-quality fertilizers and pest management system and mechanization.
“We can increase their output, from 40 to 50 cavans per hectare currently to an average of 120 to 150 cavans per hectare,” she said.
Yesterday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar reported that ₱5.4-billion worth of agricultural produce from farmers and fishermen were sold to consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
He also assured the country can produce enough supply of rice, corn, fish, pork, chicken and vegetables by year-end.
