NEDA urges more exports of special rice varieties

MANILA, Philippines — Exports of special rice varieties should be ramped up to respond to increased demand overseas now that restrictions for outbound shipments have been removed, said the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said yesterday.

With the recent enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law or Republic Act 11203, quantitative restrictions on imports and exports of rice were repealed. Volume restrictions on inbound shipments are replaced with the imposition of tariff.

“We encourage producers of special varieties of rice, such as heirloom, organic and aromatic long-grain rice, to continue striving to be competitive and to increase their export volume capabilities. These kinds of rice command higher premium, thus resulting in higher earnings for farmers,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia.

After a 40 year hiatus, the country resumed rice exportation in 2013 with a shipment consisting of 15 metric tons of organic black rice and 20 metric tons of aromatic long grain rice.

The value of rice exports in 2018 was only about $0.47 million, 46.87 percent lower than the previous year.

Rice exports hardly made a contribution to total export earnings from agricultural products, which reached $6.03 billion in 2018.

Before the enactment of the law, exporters of rice had to secure an export permit from the National Food Authority.

“The government has already started supporting the exportation of special rice varieties by removing the export quota power of the National Food Authority in RA 11203.  Now, these special rice varieties have tons of room for growth,” Pernia said, citing the rice breeds are in high demand in the US, Canada, and countries in the Middle East and Europe.

NEDA said this is in line with the government’s goal of providing rice farmers with more income opportunities.

The agency said the creation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, a P10-billion annual subsidy for the rice sector, also assures support for the development of high-yielding rice seed varieties, along with improvements in farm mechanization and other productivity-enhancing programs.

“The rice sector must work towards raising productivity with better farm methods and tools,” Pernia said.