Rice prices fall to 6-yr low

Rice prices in the market have gone down to its lowest in six years following the rice tariffication law, but at the expense of farmers’ welfare as the influx of more affordable imported rice in the market caused palay prices to significantly go down.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) reported that the average retail price of regular milled rice already went down by 12.3 percent to P36.53 a kilo in January from P41.36 in December 2019 following the deregulation of rice trade, but the same policy also paved the way for the farm-gate price of palay to decline to P15.79 a kilo from a three-year average of 18.53.

Though accounting for a small part of the population, Filipino palay farmers remain the major supplier of the country’s staple. The continuous downward trend in prices, however, has forced some of them to stop planting palay.

Farmers from Nueva Ecija who talked to the Inquirer said the rice tariffication law “has only made things worse for us and our families.”

Joe Pangalilingan, a former overseas worker who decided to return to the country to become a farmer, said that his family had to cut expenses after palay prices fell.

In their municipality in Talugtug, Nueva Ecija, Pangalilingan said small-scale farmers have sold their lands to private companies.

The irony was that these farmers eventually became laborers in lands they used to call their own.

The DA, for its part, said it would continue to pursue the efficient implementation of the rice competitiveness enhancement fund to empower the country’s food growers.

This includes the provision of farm machinery, inbred seeds, credit, package of technology and training—backed by an assured funding of P10 billion yearly for the next six years.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said consumers were now reaping the benefits of lower rice prices, now at a six-year low, “which is the heart and soul” of the rice tariffication law. “Compared to previous years wherein the price of rice were at P40 a kilo, consumers have better choices now. We have NFA and regular milled rice at P27 and P32 a kilo, well-milled rice priced between P35 and P38, and special rice priced at P40 and above,” he added. INQ