MORE than two weeks into the government’s imposition of an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), appeals for an assurance of food security continue to bombard the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Rice Watch Action Network, Inc. (R1) said the government should prioritize the country’s food self-reliance especially after Vietnam’s decision to temporarily stop its rice exports.
Hazel Tanchuling, R1 executive director, said while there are alternative rice exporting countries where supply can be sourced, the high level of uncertainty with global recession in the horizon is an issue especially that from the 3 million metric tons (MT) of rice that were imported by the Philippines last year, 89 percent of it was supplied by Vietnam.
“This is what the group has been fearing all along, we become very vulnerable as global shocks like today’s global pandemic and the 2008 rice crisis can raise international rice prices to the roof as supply becomes tight and countries hold on to their food supply for their own needs. Food security will be at risk and this could further magnify the impacts of COVID-19,” Tanchuling said.
Maning Rosario, farmer-leader from Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan, said the situation has also led a slow rise in the price of local palay.
“If there is anything good that has come out of COVID is that palay prices is slowly picking up. It is possible that traders are also anticipating tightness in the supply. Local prices are now up to P16 per kg of palay from a low of P10 last year. We expect that with Vietnam’s temporary export closure, local palay prices will continue to increase,” Rosario said.
Amid such calls, the DA through the National Food Authority (NFA) has prepositioned rice stocks for the requirements of Metro Manila, ensuring sufficient supply during the ECQ period due to COVID-19.
“We have enough rice supply for Metro Manila and the whole country. For this month of March, we have a rice inventory good for 75 days… In all, we have enough food for the next two months and we are enhancing other measures to ensure food security until the end of the year,” said DA Secretary William Dar claimed.
He detailed that the country has a total rice inventory of 2.661 million MT, inclusive of commercial, household and government stocks, equivalent to 75 days’ requirement.
NFA administrator Judy Carol Dansal also stated that they have a current inventory of 9.636 million bags or 481,800 MT, equivalent to 14 days’ requirement of the country, including stocks bought from farmers during the last quarter of 2019.
She further explained that NFA continues to buy palay from farmers for buffer stocking, citing that for January and February 2020, a total of 1,734,230 bags or 86,711 MT from individual farmers, cooperatives and associations were already purchased from the 2020 target of 15.44 million bags, using its regular P7 billion budget.
On the other hand, the agricultural lobby group, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) has appealed anew for local government units to directly buy from farmers as farmgate prices have already plummeted below the cost of production or are being left to rot due to logistics problems.
Rosendo So, the group’s chairman, expressed that based on data provided by industry stakeholders, farmgate prices of chicken is now only around P40 to P50 per kg. compared to production costs of P70 to P75 per kg.
He added that backyard vegetable farmers are suffering from difficulties in bringing their produce to the markets due to lack of available transportation because of the ECQ.
”There is much production at this time in our piggeries, chicken, aquaculture and vegetable farms but if farmers stop producing due to bankruptcy, what will happen to all of us? …Farmers and all food producers at the farm level need to continuously produce food for us, unhampered and unrestricted but we must also support them so they continue farming,” So explained.
Amid all the food supply concerns, cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles, said that DA’s recommendations and request for a P32 billion worth of supplemental budget to assure that the country will have sufficient food was already approved.
He added that the DA was also asked together with the Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) trading partners and encourage them to refrain from imposing trade-restrictive measures to ensure that existing supply contracts are prioritized.
Nograles also mentioned that if necessary, the importation of an additional 300,000 MT of rice through government-to-government arrangements with ASEAN trading partners or from all sources, including India and Pakistan will be allowed.
He also reiterated that farming and fishing activities will continue despite the ECQ as well as the free movement of all supplies used for agriculture, including food packaging and manufacturing materials aside from the reactivation of the Local Price Coordination Council to strictly implement the price freeze and suggested retail price.
