Farmers' group urged DA to buy all local palay to be harvested in coming months

Farmers' group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) called on the government to walk the talk and intensify the buying of palay or unmilled rice, as it said the administration's budget is not even enough to procure 10% of the national harvest.

In a statement on Tuesday, SINAG called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to prepare a higher budget to increase the procurement of palay from local farmers, given the competition they have from imported rice due to the liberalization of the industry from the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).

"The situation today is very different. It is very dire for our rice farmers because of the COVID pandemic and the deluge of imports courtesy of the Rice Tariffication Law," said SINAG chair Rosendo So.

"Sino nga ba ang bibili ng palay? Nagrereklamo rin ang member millers ng SINAG dahil ang mga bodega ng local millers ay puno pa rin dahil hindi sila makasabay sa pagbaha ng murang imported rice mula nang maisabatas ang RTL," he added.

According to SINAG, the National Food Authority (NFA)—mandated to ensure food security through the availability, affordability, and accessibility of rice—does not have enough funds to procure a significant percentage of the country's total output with only P14 billion at best, including a rollover fund of P7 billion.

SINAG said that at P19 per kilogram, the P14 billion will only be able to buy 739,842 metric tons (MT) of palay. This is equivalent to only 8.18% of the total expected palay harvest of 9 million MT.

"Instead of forging deals with foreign institutions and trumpeting the studies multilateral agencies in transforming our sector; the DA must first forge a deal with the local rice farmers that they will buy all the palay that will be harvested this coming weeks and months, if only for the rice farmers to survive this cropping season and the RTL," said SINAG.

For its part, the DA assured farmers bigger earnings, as it claimed it will take the "extra mile" by picking up the produce from their respective barangays.

"We will continue to buy palay as high as P19 per kilo, at 14 percent moisture content, from our farmers to assure them of bigger earnings, and if need be pick up their produce at a designated area in their barangay," Agriculture Secretary William Dar was quoted as saying in a statement released by the DA on Tuesday.

"We have instructed NFA offices nationwide, through administrator Judy Dansal, to offer transport services for farmers who cannot deliver their produce to the agency's warehouses, and likewise avail of its drying facilities," said Dar, who chairs the NFA Council.

According to NFA Region 3 director Elvira Obaña, they target to buy a total of 1,747,700 bags of palay from farmers in Central Luzon starting this month until the end of the year.

Dar also instructed the NFA to immediately mill the palay, then sell it to local government units or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It will then subsequently roll-over the amount to be able to buy more from farmers.

Aside from this, Dar also called on the governors of top 12 rice-producing provinces to help NFA buy palay direct from their farmer-constituents to stabilize prices. These include Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Iloilo, Camarines Sur, Tarlac, Negros Occidental, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, and Leyte.

"Their direct procurement will significantly shore up the national average farmgate price of palay, thus helping more farmers," he said.—AOL, GMA News