Filipino farmers are forced to sell their palay (unmilled rice) for P 17 to P18 per kilo as millers stopped buying for P30, farmers group Samahang Industriya ang Agrikultura (SINAG) said on Tuesday, June 18.
What further aggravated the matter for the farmers, according to the group, is that the National Food Authority (NFA) is no longer purchasing palay.
On June 16, the NFA announced that it surpassed its palay procurement target for the first half of this year, totaling 3.37 million 50-kilo bags. The agency’s target was 3.36 million bags for the first half of the year.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson clarified some of their warehouses still purchase palay. “Bumibili pa rin kami sa ibang mga warehouses. Hindi na sa lahat (We are still buying from other warehouses. Not from all of them anymore),”he said.
“Farmers are forced sa presyo na willing lang bilhin ng millers [which is] P17 to P18 per kilo (Farmers are forced to sell at the price that millers are willing to pay, which is P17 to P18 per kilo),” Jayson Cainglet, the executive director of SINAG, said in an interview.
“Iyong mga naghahabol [ng] third cropping na rice farmers ay tinamaan na ng P17 to P18 per kilo farmgate; dahil stop buying na ang millers sa P30 per kilo. At hindi na raw kinukuha ng NFA dahil puno na raw stocks nila (The rice farmers who are rushing for the third cropping have been affected by the P17 to P18 per kilo farmgate price because millers have stopped buying at P30 per kilo. Also, the NFA is reportedly not accepting more because their stocks are already full),” he went on.
Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa, the spokesperson of the Department of Agriculture (DA), said it is only normal for the farmgate price of palay to go down as the harvest season has already ended.
“Natural na bumabagsak ang presyo dahil wala nang harvest---tapos na ang harvest season (It is natural for the price of palay to decrease as there is no more harvest---the harvest season has already ended),” he said in an ambush interview.
Cainglet agreed that the palay price was bound to decrease, but not by 45 percent.
“Yes, bumababa. But not from P30 to P17 kasi 45 percent drop na ‘yun (Yes, it is decreasing. But not from P30 to P17 because that would be a 45 percent drop),” he said.
Should the price of the farmgate of palay remain around P17 to P20 a kilo during the fourth quarter harvest, SINAG said a lot of farmers will be discouraged from farming.
“Just like any business. Kapag nalulugi ka, titigil ka na (Just like any business. When you're losing money, you'll stop),” the executive director of SINAG said.
The cost to produce palay, according to Cainglet, is P15 to P16 per kilo.
“If bibilhin lang sa farmers ng P17 to P18, ang kikitain lang nila is P2 per kilo (If the farmers are only paid P17 to P18, they will earn only P2 per kilo),” he pointed out.
To encourage farmers to continue planting despite the low farmgate price, De Mesa said that they will provide farm inputs and that the DA will request a larger budget for the NFA.
“Unang-una magbibigay pa rin ng additional inputs pa rin ang DA in terms of fertilizer, seeds, pieces of machinery, etc. (First and foremost, the DA will still provide additional inputs such as fertilizer, seeds, machinery, etc.),” he said.
“Hihiling ng mas malaking budget ang NFA (The NFA will request a larger budget). I cannot say for now,” he added.
SINAG fears that the price of unmilled rice will decline further because of the forthcoming tariff reductions planned by the Philippine government.
Caintlet dared National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan to purchase palay in Pampanga for P30 per kilo.
“Nasaan si Secretary Balisacan? Pumunta siya sa Pampanga at bilhin sa P30 per kilo ang ngayon palang ay bagsak presyong palay na ng mga magsasaka (Where is Secretary Balisacan? He should go to Pampanga to buy palay at P30 per kilo, which is already the current low price for farmers),” he said.
Recently, 17 agriculture groups opposed to tariff cuts have called for the resignation of Balisacan, citing his "pro-importation ideology." The groups are SINAG, FFF, KMP, PHILCONGRAINS, ABONO Party-list, UBRA, Phil Egg Board, NFHFI, AGAP Party-list, Phil Palay, PCAFI, PhilMaize, AA, RWAN, IRDF, Bantay Bigas, and P4MP.