A farmers’ group debunked government’s claims the lower price of rice last year was due to the Rice Tarrification Law (RTL).
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said rice prices have yet to hit 2016 and 2017 levels of P27 per kilogram (kg.), the target price .
“Official data actually showed the RTL has not delivered the promised benefits to consumers,” said Raul Montemayor, FFF national manager.
As of first week of February, average retail price of well-milled rice (WMR) is at P41.30 per kg, unchanged from the previous week’s average cost but a 7.9 percent decline from 2019’s P44.86 per kg. The average retail price of regular milled rice (RMR) is at P36.33 per kg, down by 0.3 percent from last week’s P36.44 per kg and lower by 11.6 percent in an annual basis from 2019’s P41.11 per kg.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Montemayor said the drop in the prices of both RMR and MR occurred between September 2018 and March 2019, or before the RTL took effect.
Montemayor said this is the time government authorized the importation of large volumes by the National Food Authority (NFA) and the private sector in response to the 2018 rice crisis.
The FFF said of the P9.20 per kg drop in RMR prices from September 2018 against December 2019, P6.54 occurred during the eight-month period prior to the enactment of the law, and prices went down further by only P2.66 per kilo from March to December 2019.
The group said for WMR, 11 percent of the total 15 percent drop in prices for the period also took place before the RTL became operational.
Montemayor said while PSA’s data indicated price declines in 2019 compared to 2018 levels, these prices are still higher than 2016 and 2017 price levels even after the RTL took effect.
He said RMR prices averaged at P37.50 per kg during the first 10 months of the implementation of the RTL from March to December 2019 which is higher than the 2016 average of P36.67 per kg and 2017 level of P37.09 per kg.
Similarly, average prices for WMR during the initial RTL implementation period were consistently higher than prices in 2016 and 2017 when quantitative restrictions (QR) were still in place.
“ RTL proponents were arguing that QRs on rice imports had resulted in rice prices which were double or even triple what consumers in Thailand and Vietnam were paying for rice.
Others claimed that rice prices would become cheaper than P27 NFA rice if imports are allowed to freely come in. All these claims have not materialized and official government data shows that consumers were in fact better off in 2016 and 2017 when the QRs were still in place,” Montemayor further stated.
Meanwhile. local farmers will soon have access to drones that intelligently map farms or collect crop growth information via remote sensing.
Bayer has partnered with XAG of China on farm technologies using artificial intelligence (AI) as well as drones for granule spreading system used in seeding, fertilization, and plant protection.
The use of AI will raise farmers’ production.
The partnership involves the distribution of XAG products through Bayer’s channels.
The technology will address labor shortage, water availability and product stewardship commonly experienced in farming.
The Department of Agriculture earlier conducted a pilot test for aerial spraying using remote-controlled drones in a 5,000 hectare vegetable farm in La Trinidad, Benguet, using Japanese technology.