NFA ponders role under rice tariff regime

MANILA, Philippines — The National Food Authority will still sell cheap rice even if the Philippines will start liberalizing the rice industry next year with the unlimited importation of Filipinos’ basic staple.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Sen. Cynthia Villar assured that the grains agency would continue to sell rice at prices below commercial rice to serve the needs of the lower income families.

Villar, the principal author of the Rice Tariffication Act, issued the clarification following reports that the NFA will no longer be able to sell rice at P27 per kilogram.

“Sen. Villar issued the assurance that even with the passage of the rice tariffication bill,  the government will still ensure the availability of government subsidized rice in the market,” Piñol said.

Piñol said as soon as President Duterte signs the tariffication bill which calls for unlimited importation of rice and imposition of tariffs, the grains agency will be stripped off its power to import rice.

NFA is importing from neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand.

With the tariffication, NFA’s function will be limited to buffer stocking which will be sourced only through buying palay from local farmers.

“The moment the last batch of imported rice runs out, the P27 per kilo of rice will no longer be available,” Piñol said.

“We cannot afford to subsidize rice anymore and NFA will just be turned into a welfare agency. We cannot sell at P27 anymore or else we we will  lose a lot of money,” he added.

NFA is still looking at its future role once the tariffication bill gets enacted.

Under the bill, NFA will be left with the mere function of buffer stocking to sustain the disaster relief programs of the government during natural or man-made calamities.

Buffer stock is being defined as “the optimal level of rice inventory that shall be maintained at any given time to be used for emergency situations and to sustain the disaster relief programs of the government during natural or man-made calamities.”

It effectively removed the function of rice buffer stocking for the purpose of stabilizing consumer prices.

“If NFA’s palay procurement would be limited for what is the ‘optimal volume’ needed for calamities and man-made emergencies, NFA may no longer be able to influence palay farm gate prices,” NFA officer-in-charge administrator Tomas Escarez said.

“What will happen during the lean months, a period of no harvest, when rice prices traditionally increase? Will it not be treated as an emergency situation requiring government intervention? How do we ensure that those who cannot afford to buy high-priced commercial rice will still have rice on their table?” he added.

Other NFA powers and functions repealed are the registration, licensing and supervision of persons and entities engaged in the grains business, the regulation of grains importation and exportation, monitoring and enforcement of grains trading rules and regulations, and the power to contract indebtedness and import rice for food security buffer stocking, among others.