NFA retained in rice tariffication bill

MANILA, Philippines — The bill replacing volume restrictions on rice importation with tariffs, which the two chambers of Congress have finally approved, retains the National Food Authority (NFA).

“The NFA is not abolished, but its functions will henceforth be limited to determining the buffer stocks level, maintenance of its warehouses for buffer stocks, and issuance of rules on rice exports, if any,” said 1-Pacman partylist Rep. Michael Romero.

Under the bill, NFA will also lose its vital functions of stabilizing the price and supply of rice as it effectively eliminates all the licensing and monitoring functions of NFA and will only be limited to maintaining buffer stocks for emergencies.

Congress is expected to shortly send the rice import bill to President Duterte for his signature.

The bill is expected to be passed into law as early as next week, Romero said.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the rice competitiveness enhancement fund would “help boost farm productivity and address the right rural credit crunch.”

He said the fund would have a minimum allocation of P10 billion for six years coming from tariff revenues to be raised from rice importation.

“Lack of credit is one reason for the stunted growth of our agricultural sector. The BSP should find ways to crack the whip on banks for being stingy in extending credit to farmers,” he said.

He said the law mandates banks to allot at least 10 percent of their total loanable funds to agrarian reform beneficiaries and 15 percent to farmers and fisherfolks.

Rather than lend to the farming sector, banks mostly prefer to pay penalties for their non-compliance with the law, he said.

The Philippine Farmers Advisory Board (PFAB), which represents the farmers’ sector in the NFA Council, said the lifting of QR on rice would not guarantee consumers of lower prices of the Filipinos’ basic staple as it opposed anti-farmer provisions in the bill

“Even if this law is passed it will not guarantee rice prices will go down since big businesses on rice importation will come in. Rice farmers, like rice consumers, will be vulnerable to price spikes,” PFAB chairman Edwin Paraluman said.

“There is no substitute for a genuine food security with the staple food produced by our own farmers,” he added.

PFAB said trade liberalization would not help Filipino farmers because it allows free flow of goods in and out of the country and local farmers cannot compete with those of rice exporting countries.

“Although contained in the proposed law that rice will be sourced locally before resorting to rice importation, NFA is not allowed to compete with traders in terms of farm gate price, “ Paraluman said.

“As it is, the NFA will always be low in buffer stock accumulation due to this policy direction. In the end, rice importation by the agency will still be the strategy to source buffer stock for its new role of food security for calamities and emergencies,” he added.

Under the reconciled bill, private traders can import rice provided they secure permits from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.