Duterte stops rice importation

MANILA, Philippines -  President Duterte ordered yesterday the suspension of rice importation to protect the country’s farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Duterte, during a visit to farmers in Nueva Ecija, had instructed him to stop the importation of rice.

Piñol said the government would wait for the end of the coming harvest season. If there is a shortage in rice supply, importation would be resumed.

“The President today acted on the appeal of our farmers that the importation, of rice be temporarily halted in the face of the expected bountiful harvest of the first quarter,” Piñol said.

He said this does not mean that the administration is against rice importation, but rather the government would only import rice if needed.

“That’s what he wants now, after the harvest season before we import. If there is a shortage, we will import. But in the meantime, the harvest  is bountiful because we just had the highest average for the first time in the history of the country,” Piñol said.

“First quarter, we harvested 210,000 metric tons over what we have harvested last year same period,” said Piñol.

He said he requested the President to stop rice importation after the harvest season.

“Let the farmers enjoy the good price and if there is shortage in the buffer stock, then we import,” he said.

Meanwhile, Piñol said the government plans to provide P50 billion the worth of loan assistance to farmers.

Piñol said farmers’ access to credit financing should be addressed to achieve rice sufficiency.

The program would allow farmers to borrow up to P50,000, half of which will immediately be released to buy hybrid rice seeds and the other half for insecticide.

He said the production loan easy access or PLEA scheme will not require any collateral and offers an annual interest rate of six percent.

Piñol noted that the PLEA model, if approved by Congress, would be initially implemented in Bongabong, Nueva Ecija.

“The repayment period of the loan will depend on the commodity that a farmer or fisherman will be producing, like three years for rice, corn, banana, sugarcane or fish drying facilities and eight years for coconut, mango, cacao, coffee or palm oil,” Piñol said.

He noted that once approved by Congress, the PLEA program would be implemented nationwide.