A SENIOR legislator warned of an impending crisis in rice distribution for communities cut off by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to get ahead of the problem.
“Historically, we’ve had challenges with rice price and supply during economic and social crises, but those challenges were rarely about having enough rice for everyone in the aggregate. The issues have always been about getting the national supply of rice into the communities that need the supply. Those challenges are made starker by delays in ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) checkpoints,” Albay Representative and ways and means committee chairman Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda said in a statement Wednesday.
On the global supply front, Mr. Salceda noted that rice prices rose as much as 12% week-on-week during the first week of April as purchasers stocked up in anticipation of food supply disruptions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
“As of 01 March 2020, the total rice inventory (in the Philippines) stood at 2,178.64 thousand metric tons, 1.9% lower year-on-year, and 8.3% lower month-on-month. Harvest season doesn’t come until May so we have to be prepared,” he added.
Mr. Salceda also said checkpoints continue to disrupt the food supply.
“Just today, the National Food Authority (NFA) reported that some drivers of 14 trucks carrying 14,000 sacks of rice from Regions 1, 2 and 3 failed to meet at their Malolos warehouse to deliver the rice to… Valenzuela and Cavite. Only eight trucks were able to reach the Malolos warehouse, while six trucks were allegedly stopped at quarantine checkpoints. Government to government na yan, ah (and that’s for a government-to-government transaction),” he said, suggesting that private cargoes might be experiencing more difficulties.
Mr. Salceda recommended the unhampered flow of rice and other essential commodities, as well as the necessary inputs to produce and process these commodities; mobile stores selling food at fair prices to dampen “artificially inflated prices” in some areas; matching rice producers and markets to keep middleman costs at a minimum; and the establishment of an online, citizen-based monitoring system for the price of rice and other commodities.
“Wherever there are localities with anomalously higher prices compared to baseline or expected prices, the DTI and the DA must use appropriate interventions such as stricter monitoring and enforcement of retail price measures. The system will also allow consumers to compare prices in nearby areas, making local cartel practices easier to spot and prevent,” he said.
He also cited uneven enforcement of the quarantine at some checkpoints, despite the exemptions granted to food shipments.
“In some checkpoints, may mga nalilito pa (some are confused about the rules) Some checkpoints still delay inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. We can’t produce rice without those inputs. I’m asking the DA and the DTI to make sure that we unchain the whole supply chain. That’s why a week before the DA and the DTI issued agency orders, I requested that we ensure that the checkpoints are rational and nationally supervised,” he said.
Mr. Salceda said that the droughts in Thailand and Vietnam are “aggravating the impact of the pandemic in the case of rice importing countries like the Philippines.” — Genshen L. Espedido
