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Reliance on 'cheap importation' not a viable move to sustain low food prices - Imee Marcos
Reliance on 'cheap importation' not a viable move to sustain low food prices - Imee Marcos
By Dhel Nazario
Sen. Imee Marcos believes that relying on importation and lowering tariffs on meat, rice, and corn are not sustainable policies to keep food prices low.
In a statement, Marcos said that when the tariffs on meat, rice, and corn were first lowered in 2021, the promise was to lower the prices of these commodities. She added that while runaway inflation has been arrested, prices have not fallen below the promised pre-2021 levels.
With the looming threat brought by El Niño, Marcos questioned if the government could still persist with the "failed" scheme of cheap importation to lower food prices.
"Relying on imports and modifying the rates are not sustainable policies because other countries are limiting their exportation of food to serve their domestic needs first," she said.
She also asked how the much-reduced government collection of import duties on rice, corn, and meat products subsidize the agricultural inputs so direly needed by the country's local farmers.
"There is no shortcut to agri sufficiency: government should fast-track the completion of irrigation facilities so long promised, build warehouses, food storage and an expanded cold chain. The private sector must invest in the countryside, especially in value adding, processing and distribution," she said.
"Our young farmers need to be provided consolidated farmland, agricultural machinery and training, access to capital and markets - everything we have known for a long time but still refuse to provide," she added.
Marcos also mentioned that it is time to review the implementation of the repopulation program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) for areas affected by the African Swine Fever, realistically facing the challenge of biosecurity for the 67 percent of country's backyard hog raisers.
"We need to see the specifics as well of the programs for our corn farmers and poultry raisers. I see line items in the new 2024 GAA for fertilizer and fuel subsidies for corn farmers - are they really going to lower production costs and market prices?" she said.
President Marcos recently issued Executive Order No. 50 which approved the extension of reduced tariffs on rice and other food products until the end of 2024.