THE removal of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) rice import function effectively handed control over the rice supply to private traders, AgriNurture, Inc. (ANI) President and Chief Executive Officer Antonio L. Tiu said in an interview with ANC.
“The private sector will only step when there is profit to be made… I do not agree (with the removal of) the NFA’s power to import rice,” he said.
The Rice Tariffication Law of 2019 (Republic Act No. 11203) privatized the function of importing rice formerly carried out by the NFA. Instead, private traders were allowed to bring in their own shipments but had to pay a tariff of 35% on Southeast Asian grain.
The law was intended to relieve the government of having to pay for rice imports. The tariff also generated revenue for the government and helped finance the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which is tasked with modernizing the rice industry.
Mr. Tiu said parts of the law “are not advantageous to the country as a whole” and need to be reviewed.
“For example, you are not supposed to restrict the NFA from importing rice because the NFA is supposed to be the agency in charge of the food security, particularly the rice buffer stock,” Mr. Tiu added, referring to the NFA’s role of maintaining a reserve for release during calamities and shortages.
The NFA is now restricted to buying domestic rice to meet its buffer stock quota.
Mr. Tiu said limiting the NFA to buying domestic rice causes “seasonal problems in rice availability every year.”
“This seasonality problem can only be addressed by importing for the short term for the foreseeable future, because attaining rice self-sufficiency may take years if not decades to achieve,” he added.
The Philippines imported 2.19 million metric tons of rice in the eight months to August, down 42.8% year on year as international rice prices rose after major producers like India announced restrictions on exports.
“This rice problem is more on the macro side; we have neighbors suffering from a shortfall in terms of harvest as well. We have neighbors aggressively buying for their buffer stock program, and we have neighbors preparing for war,” he said.
“So, we have to look at long-term solutions (beyond) the price controls on rice,” he added.
Last week, the government issued Executive Order No. 39, which temporarily imposed price caps on rice at P45 per kilo for well-milled rice and P41 for regular-milled. — Adrian H. Halili
