Party-list group calls on govt to allot part of CCT funds to rice farmers

The Abono party-list called for the allocation of P10 billion from the government's conditional cash transfer program to rice farmers whose profits have been hit by rampant rice smuggling. The funds would be available to farmers not covered by the National Food Authority's rice procurement program to help them deal with lower incomes caused by the presence of smuggled rice in the market, said Abono partylist chairman Rosendo So in a briefing on Tuesday. The government has alloted P44.25 billion to its CCT program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), which is aiming for 3.8 million poor families as beneficiaries this year. The allocation of part of the funds to farmers is a temporary measure that will help them sell palay at a lower cost to local millers, So said. “Allocating a fourth of the CCT budget or about P10 billion to farmers would allow them to sell palay at a price of P14 per kilo from P17.50, which is expected to dip due to the flooding of smuggled rice into the market,” he said. “This will ensure that market competition would kill smuggling operations as a discounted cavan price of P1,150 will be able to compete with smuggled rice being sold at P1, 200 per cavan,” he added. So suggested that a farmer tilling half a hectare can be given P5,000, with the maximum amount being P20,000 given to farmers tilling two hectares. “Regardless of their land size, they will be only given subsidies for two hectares. Using part of the CCT for this purpose is a good idea as it would benefit small rice growers directly,” he said. The NFA will purchase 615,985 metric tons (MT) of palay worth P10.9 billion from local farmers this year, or 3 percent of the expected harvest. Abono has been calling on the NFA to increase its planned purchase to 30 percent. At present, said Philippine Confederation of Grains Associations president Herculano Co in an earlier interview, there are warehouses full of rice that are not used because the market is stocked with smuggled rice. — BM, GMA News