P20/kilo of rice is “doable” if govt subsidizes farmer inputs—SHARP EDGES by JAKE J. MADERAZO
There are a lot of positive news happening today, which I believe may lead to lower rice prices, that will depend of course, if this government is serious enough. The plan is simple, government should pay for the fertilizer, chemical and hybrid seedlings of our rice farmers like what’s happening in Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries. In Vietnam, farmers spend only P5 to produce a kilo of palay while same thing happens to Thai farmers turning a higher P8 per kilo. Moreover, both are already into “mechanized” farming that prevents “losses” of their palay produce. As of today, landed cost of Vietnamese Rice is about P29 to P31 per kilo while Thai rice is way higher.
Our case is pathetic nationwide, with our provincial rice farmers being left on their own, throughout the planting-harvest seasons. But there is some good news, especially in some rice producing provinces. For instance, the other week, farmers from Negros Occidental proved that local rice can be sold at P25 per kilo. This happened at the Food Terminal Market in Bacolod City during the opening day of Bigas ng Bayan. The provincial government of Negros initiated a “farm level productivity interventions” project called DAGYAW with the Federation of Irrigators of Central Negros -Bago River System (FIACN-BRIS) thru sustainable irrigation systems and helping their local farmers. As a rule of thumb, they are spending a total of least P12.50 per kilo of palay.
This is also happening on a bigger scale in both Nueva Ecija and Isabela, who are benefitting from irrigation waters from Pantabangan and Magat dams. I was told by former Nueva Ecija Congressman Rene Diaz that farmer costs here are already within P12 to P13 per kilo of palay. If the cost of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and seedlings (thru the P19-B benefits from Rice Tarrification law) are subsidized without corruption by government, then farmers can bring down their cost at P10 per kilo of palay or even lower. As a rule of thumb, then P20 per kilo of rice can be realized in our markets. This means that if we match Thailand’s output of P8 per kilo of palay, then P16/per kilo of rice is possible.
I still wonder why our past administrations have not supported our local farmers. Sadly, the Jokjok fertilizer scandal always comes to mind. But worldwide, nations subsidize their own farmers, not only because of wealth creation, but mainly on food security. I cannot see why pork barrel exists when these can be used to hand out free fertilizers, chemicals, pesticides, hybrid seedlings and modern post-harvest facilities for our farmers.
Recent efforts of Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali and Isabela governor Rodolfo Albano III to directly help their rice farmers lower production costs from planting to harvesting are now bearing fruit. Rice cartel buyers are now being pushed out by local LGU’s who makes sure better income for their farmer constituents. NFA bought palay at P21 per kilo as ordered by PBBM while Isabela LGU added P2 more per kilo or at P23. This made our palay farmers very happy since production cost of palay was at P13.
Today, small but significant changes are happening in rice farms. LGU employees are helping local farmers in filling out loan applications thru Land Bank and DBP and promote year-round planting. Isabela Gov. Albano gave out more than a thousand hauling trucks for every barangay in his province as part of efforts to modernize farming. This means, farmers of rice, onions and other agricultural products will just stay in their farm and be freed of transport costs. In time, cheaper rice and food will be realized and smuggling will end and hopefully become exporting.
Also, let us not forget that as an initial move to really help the farmer, the President condoned the debts of more than 610,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries worth P57B under the New Agrarian Emancipation Act. These farmers, who cultivates 1.173 million hectares of land, are now freed from their debt, will now own their land, and build them into sustainable farms with higher income.
Another good news to mention to lower prices is, the President issuing EO 41 stopping the collection of pass-through fees of Manila, Caloocan, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and other LGUs on all types of vehicles transporting goods. These fees range from monthly/yearly stickers of P800 to P2,000 or apprehensions from P200 to P1,000 per violation. According to the DTI, each cargo truck is spending P30,000 per year on these extra charges alone. And perhaps, it is also clear that “kotong” checkpoints will be dismantled by the PNP and the DILG. Surely, this will influence the landed price of rice in Metro Manila Public markets.
I also talked to Julius Corpuz spokesperson of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) who informed us that all toll expressway operators are now agreeable on the proposed exemption from toll rate increases of truckers that cater to agricultural goods such as rice, corn, and vegetables. The proposal came from the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IOC-IMO) Sub Committee on Non-Food inflation. However, the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations (ACTOO) insisted that all cargo trucks that carry goods essential to economic activities should also be exempted.
Overall, the situation isn’t at all bad. Let us all agree to immediately modernize our agriculture and subsidize our local farmers in priority areas. Let us encourage them to produce more and more so we the consuming public can buy at lower food prices. With improvements in the supply chain from the farm to home, we will realize that our nation can indeed achieve food security by prioritizing our own. But first things first, we should all HELP OUR LOCAL FARMERS.
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