Senator Imee Marcos slammed the government's proposal to lower the rice tariff from 35 percent to 15 percent, which she called it a "ham-fisted" solution to the high cost of rice.

Senator Marcos issued the statement Thursday, June 6 in Nueva Ecija, ahead of the announcement of national winners of the Young Farmers Challenge, an annual competition offering financial grants for innovative ideas in crop, livestock, and fish production. She conceived the program, which is being implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The lady senator said lowering the rice tariff would only benefit foreign suppliers exporting rice to the Philippines.

She also claimed that it would ruin the livelihood of local farmers who could not compete with cheaper rice imports.

"Rice-exporting countries are aware of our need to import rice and are taking advantage of it. They have raised their selling prices, which would neutralize the intended effect of lower tariffs," she explained.

Senator Marcos also pointed out that previous reductions on rice tariff--from 50 percent to 40 percent, to the prevailing 35 percent--have not resulted in lower prices in wet markets.

The prevailing price of the cheapest regular milled rice hovers at 50 pesos per kilo, which reflects an increase of 19 percent to 47 percent from year-ago prices of 34 to 42 pesos per kilo.

The senator also bewailed the absence of consultation by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and other stakeholders in the rice industry before recommending that rice tariffs be slashed and remain in effect until 2028.

"Lowering rice tariffs should only be an emergency measure, usually put in place for six months to one year. Is the NEDA projecting that the country will be in a rice emergency until 2028?" she asked.

The NEDA has not shown the public a cost analysis to prove whether or not the lower rice tariffs would indeed result in lower prices for consumers.

Senator Marcos emphasized that importation cannot be a long-term solution for the country to attain rice sufficiency, and urged instead the lease of uncultivated public land to farmers and the expansion of contract farming.

"We have no economies of scale. Farmers must consolidate to increase the country's rice supply, stabilize prices, and earn a decent income as well for themselves," she said, and cited that the average Filipino farmer tills only about two hectares of land.

"Contract farming would also allow farmers to better negotiate a fixed farmgate price with buyers of their crops even before planting has started," the senator added.