Farmers’ group wants DA to buy palay at P19/kg

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) on Monday called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to buy palay or unmilled rice from local farmers, citing the low farmgate prices due to the increase in imports of the commodity.

In an emailed statement, SINAG said farmgate prices of palay have plunged to P10 to P13 per kilogram, way below the production cost of P15 per kilogram.

“Ang DA mismo, kasama ang NEDA at ng buong economic team ng Malacañang, sila ang dapat bumili ng palay ng magsasaka sa tamang presyo ng P19 per kilogram (dry) at P16 (fresh harvest),” the emailed statement read.

[DA itself, along with NEDA and the Malacañang entire economic team should buy palay from farmers at the correct price of P19 per kilogram for dry and P16 for fresh harvest.]

GMA News Online has reached out to the Agriculture Department for its comment on the matter, but officials were not immediately available.

The DA, along with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and other economic managers, pushed for the rice competitiveness which was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2019.

The measure effectively removed the quantitative restrictions on rice, and imposed a 35% tariff on imports from neighbors in Southeast Asia.

With the law, SINAG cited the difficulty of local millers or traders to buy fresh harvest palay at P16 per kilogram or P19 per kilogram for dry. This would translate to an operating cost of P32 per kilogram, versus P23 per kilogram landed cost for imported rice.

“Hindi naman pwede ang sagot lang ng DA ay ipaubaya na lang nila sa local government units ang pagbili ng palay,” SINAG said.

“Alam naman ng lahat na wala nang pondo ang LGUs dahil sa pagbigay ng ayuda sa gitna ng COVID,” it added.

[The DA cannot just leave it to the local governments to buy palay. Everybody knows that local governments do not have sufficient funds due to the financial assistance given amid the COVID-19 pandemic.] — RSJ, GMA News