Rice importation was not the reason behind the low price of palay in Cagayan, but the local traders, Malacañang said.

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said that according to Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, the low price of palay in the province was due to local traders, who directly buy the palay from the farmers.

"Base po sa records – nakausap po natin si Secretary Kiko Laurel – base po sa records po, mababa po ang importasyon natin. At hindi po totoo na dahilan po ito, iyong pagbaba po ng pagbibili sa mga magsasaka—bumababa ang bili ng palay, hindi po dahil sa importasyon (Based on the records—we were able to talk to Secretary Kiko Laurel—our importation is low. And it is not true that it was the reason behind the low price of palay, it is not due to importation)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday, March 18.

The Palace official said Laurel suspects that local traders are to be blamed.

"[M]alamang po – ang sabi sa akin ni Secretary Kiko – ang namamayagpag po dito iyong mga local traders (As per Secretary Kiko, probably it was because of the local traders)," she said.

In order to remedy the situation, the farmers were told to reach out to their respective local government units (LGU) and sell their produce directly to the National Food Authority (NFA) buying station to avoid suffering a cut usually imposed by traders.

"So, ang magiging rekomendasyon po namin ay makipagtulungan po muna iyong mga magsasaka doon sa local government units po para po madala po ito sa NFA buying station; bumibili po ang NFA ng P23 to P24 dry (So, our recommendation is for famers to coordinate with LGUs to bring their produce to NFA buying stations which purchase P23 to P24 dry)," Castro said.

The Palace also recognized that among the challenges the farmers face in selling their goods directly to the government is logistics.

Castro said the DA is currently procuring trucks to allow farmers to sell their goods directly to the NFA.