PAGBABAGO
By DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID
Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
When Sen. Cynthia Villar authored the Rice Tariffication Law which passed a year ago, she may not have anticipated the repercussion months later -- that while the law which encouraged the entry of cheaper imported rice had somewhat stabilized the price of the commodity, it had a negative effect on farmers’ income. There was a rapid drop in the price of farmgate palay. While the average price per kilo was from P12 to P18, in some places it had gone down as low as P7. This is life-threatening to our farmers who had to grapple with obstacles such as low productivity and who were continually living in a state of indebtedness.
Thus, the joint resolution (JR No. 15) last Wednesday by 16 LP lawmakers led by Reps. Jose Christopher Belmonte, Josephine Ramirez-Sato, Stella Quimbo, and Gabriel Bordado that would amend the Rice Tariffication Law and allow the government to use P13.19 billion as direct assistance to farmers was a timely response. A counterpart joint resolution was filed in the Senate by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Liberal Party president. The government may source proposed cash aid from the P4-billion balance of the P10 billion that was appropriated for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Another P9 billion could be sourced from the Bureau of Customs collected tariff reserved for rice importation.
The above, as well as Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s recent proposal to increase the tariff levied on rice, would address two major problems in our agriculture sector which are high costs of palay and farm inputs and lack of capital.
Secretary Dar, whose taking over the helm of the department (he was agriculture chief and presidential adviser on food security during President Estrada’s time) is much welcomed not only by those in the farming and fisheries sectors but all those who are in the know on his past performance and how ably he steered the Integrated Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) where he was director-general. As Cielito Habito, former NEDA secretary, notes, “Sec. Dar’s goal of doubling farmers’ income rather than doubling rice production is the right track… Dar espouses new approaches organized around modernization, industrialization, promotion of exports, farm consolidation, roadmap development, infrastructure development, higher budget, investments for agriculture, and legislative support,” all of which appear to be the right response to the challenges that the sector faces today.
Habito was likewise pleased with what he discovered – that some of the shifts which he and his team had considered important, were integrated in Dar’s eight strategies. Earlier, he had recommended them to two previous agriculture secretaries but nothing happened. Among others, these shifts include a change from focus on self-sufficiency to food security, a shift from a centralized, top-down management to province-led devolution; and from a commodity and project-oriented organization and budgeting to one that is function-oriented. The DA, he says, had always been production-oriented. Yet, this is something that is within the control of farmers and farm enterprises, not the Department of Agriculture.
A welcome partner in building the farm sector, the Renucci couple gave up the good life in Paris to respond to the needs of farmers hit by Typhoon Yolanda. Patrick, a French national, and Rachel Marjorie Tan who is Filipino Chinese, decided to settle in Leyte where they built the most technologically advanced rice processing complex in Southeast Asia. It likewise guarantees clean and pest-free grains. The buildings are typhoon-proof and can withstand 350-kph winds.
Rachel founded a rice processing business committed to helping the country achieve national rice self-sufficiency. With the increased yield and production volume, we can bring down the cost and be competitive with our Vietnamese and Thai counterparts. Their project was planned on the basis of the results of a survey of 4,000 farmers, the findings of which showed that (1) the farmers are planting very bad seeds; (2) they live in a cycle of debt; (3) there were no more laborers. More young people are getting educated and do not want to work in the farm.
“It feels right to be coming home. To be able to achieve this while at the same time alleviating lives of Filipinos is a different kind of happiness,” Rachel said.
Not only did President Duterte offer Patrick citizenship; he also said he would like to replicate the Renucci’s business model in other parts of the country.
My email, [email protected]
Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
When Sen. Cynthia Villar authored the Rice Tariffication Law which passed a year ago, she may not have anticipated the repercussion months later -- that while the law which encouraged the entry of cheaper imported rice had somewhat stabilized the price of the commodity, it had a negative effect on farmers’ income. There was a rapid drop in the price of farmgate palay. While the average price per kilo was from P12 to P18, in some places it had gone down as low as P7. This is life-threatening to our farmers who had to grapple with obstacles such as low productivity and who were continually living in a state of indebtedness.
Thus, the joint resolution (JR No. 15) last Wednesday by 16 LP lawmakers led by Reps. Jose Christopher Belmonte, Josephine Ramirez-Sato, Stella Quimbo, and Gabriel Bordado that would amend the Rice Tariffication Law and allow the government to use P13.19 billion as direct assistance to farmers was a timely response. A counterpart joint resolution was filed in the Senate by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Liberal Party president. The government may source proposed cash aid from the P4-billion balance of the P10 billion that was appropriated for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Another P9 billion could be sourced from the Bureau of Customs collected tariff reserved for rice importation.
The above, as well as Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s recent proposal to increase the tariff levied on rice, would address two major problems in our agriculture sector which are high costs of palay and farm inputs and lack of capital.
Secretary Dar, whose taking over the helm of the department (he was agriculture chief and presidential adviser on food security during President Estrada’s time) is much welcomed not only by those in the farming and fisheries sectors but all those who are in the know on his past performance and how ably he steered the Integrated Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) where he was director-general. As Cielito Habito, former NEDA secretary, notes, “Sec. Dar’s goal of doubling farmers’ income rather than doubling rice production is the right track… Dar espouses new approaches organized around modernization, industrialization, promotion of exports, farm consolidation, roadmap development, infrastructure development, higher budget, investments for agriculture, and legislative support,” all of which appear to be the right response to the challenges that the sector faces today.
Habito was likewise pleased with what he discovered – that some of the shifts which he and his team had considered important, were integrated in Dar’s eight strategies. Earlier, he had recommended them to two previous agriculture secretaries but nothing happened. Among others, these shifts include a change from focus on self-sufficiency to food security, a shift from a centralized, top-down management to province-led devolution; and from a commodity and project-oriented organization and budgeting to one that is function-oriented. The DA, he says, had always been production-oriented. Yet, this is something that is within the control of farmers and farm enterprises, not the Department of Agriculture.
A welcome partner in building the farm sector, the Renucci couple gave up the good life in Paris to respond to the needs of farmers hit by Typhoon Yolanda. Patrick, a French national, and Rachel Marjorie Tan who is Filipino Chinese, decided to settle in Leyte where they built the most technologically advanced rice processing complex in Southeast Asia. It likewise guarantees clean and pest-free grains. The buildings are typhoon-proof and can withstand 350-kph winds.
Rachel founded a rice processing business committed to helping the country achieve national rice self-sufficiency. With the increased yield and production volume, we can bring down the cost and be competitive with our Vietnamese and Thai counterparts. Their project was planned on the basis of the results of a survey of 4,000 farmers, the findings of which showed that (1) the farmers are planting very bad seeds; (2) they live in a cycle of debt; (3) there were no more laborers. More young people are getting educated and do not want to work in the farm.
“It feels right to be coming home. To be able to achieve this while at the same time alleviating lives of Filipinos is a different kind of happiness,” Rachel said.
Not only did President Duterte offer Patrick citizenship; he also said he would like to replicate the Renucci’s business model in other parts of the country.
My email, [email protected]