Rice tariffication bill includes support for Filipino farmers —Sen. Villar

Farmers who will bear the brunt of imported rice once the rice tariffication bill is enacted will get a package of support under the measure, Senator Cynthia Villar said Friday.

This support package of support is incorporated in the bill to make sure that Filipino farmers will have a fighting chance against farmers of neighboring countries, said Villar, chairperson of the Senate agriculture and food committee and principal sponsor of the bill.

Inexpensive rice is expected to flood the market once the law is in place.

Senate Bill 1998 seeks to lift quantitative restrictions on rice and allow private traders to import the commodity from countries of their choice.

“I will not agree na mag-liberalize ang importation na walang tulong sa farmer kasi talo talaga tayo. Talo tayo ng Vietnam at Thailand in terms of competitiveness. So we have to help our farmers to be competitive as soon as possible,” the senator said in a statement.

“That’s why we need additional funds and programs to help our farmers mechanize and ultimately lower the cost of producing palay,” she added.

The bill creates the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund or Rice Fund consisting of an annual appropriation of P10 billion for the next six years after the measure has been approved.

The Rice Fund will be allocated to rice producing areas and earmarked as follows:

• 50 percent to the Philippine Center for PostHarvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) as grant in aid of eligible farmers’ associations, registered rice cooperatives and local government units

• 30 percent to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) for developing, propagating, and promoting inbred rice seeds and organizing rice farmers into seed growers associations and cooperatives

• 10 percent to a credit facility with minimal interest rates and collateral requirements managed by Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines for rice farmers and cooperatives

• 10 percent to PhilMech, PhilRice, Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for teaching skills in rice production, modern rice farming, seed production, farm mechanization, and knowledge and technology transfer through farm schools nationwide

Seventy percent of the skills training fund will go to TESDA and 10 percent each to ATI, PhilRice, and PhilMech.

Villar said the bill focuses on rice farmers, cooperatives, and associations adversely affected by rice tariffication.

The bill also allocates tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion to the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance program to compensate rice farmers who will lose income as a result of the measure.

A portion of the excess tariff will be allocated to titling rice lands, expanded crop insurance, and crop diversification program.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto earlier said senators made sure that the bill will mandate all duties collected from imported rice be plowed back to farmers.

“The result is a 100-percent plowback rate. Everything will be returned to the farmers. They will get all the dividends to compensate for their losses, which I think will never be enough,” Recto said. —VDS, GMA News