The average farm-gate price of palay slid anew during the fourth week of February as farmers continued to struggle a year after the passage of the rice tariffication law.
Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s price monitoring report, the buying price of palay declined to P16.04 a kilo from P16.06 the previous week, bringing this year’s average to P15.94 a kilo.
Between 2015 and 2017, the average palay price was P17.23 a kilo.
The lowest recorded quotation was in Palawan at P12 a kilo, while the highest was in Misamis Oriental at P21.41 a kilo.
As for rice, prices varied depending on the quality. The average retail price for regular milled rice dipped by 1 percent to P36.16 a kilo against the rate during the first week of January this year, while a kilo of well-milled rice was sold at an average of P41.24 a kilo, up from P41.18 the previous week.
The Department of Agriculture said it would accelerate the implementation of government interventions under the rice competitiveness enhancement fund to help more local palay producers compete with the influx of affordable rice.
The goal is to bring the production cost of palay to levels that are at par with other rice-producing countries. To do this, the agency must be able to lower the current production cost of P12 a kilo to P6 a kilo through mechanization, extension services and other subsidies. INQ