NFA strengthens program for farmers

The National Food Authority (NFA) is mulling enhancements to its "Farmers as Importers" Program in line with government’s intent for farmers’ groups to exclusively bring in the country’s rice import needs.

NFA Administrator Arthur Yap in a statement said the program has already been endorsed to the President in a memorandum he co-signed last Jan. 14 with Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. and Secretary for Agricultural Modernization and NFA chairman Angelito Sarmiento.

Yap said the memorandum to make rice imports "exclusive" for farmers was signed with the objective of widening the scope and reach of their involvement beyond mere production of the staple. He said though that the NFA was in the process of reviewing the program, whose guidelines had been presented to and approved by the Cabinet prior to Yap’s assumption as administrator in October last year.

Yap said the program review and the ongoing study of possible enhancements was begun even before the other day’s statement by Rep. Benjamin Cruz, sectoral representative for Butil.

Cruz had charged that the NFA failed to explain the program guidelines to the President, specifically, the requirement for farmers groups to open a letter of credit (L/C) with the land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), and for the groups to reserve their rice import allocations on a "first come first served basis."

Cruz had complained that the program guidelines were biased against the farmers’ groups, and for the benefit of big-time rice traders.

Yap said that though the observations of Cruz are "well-taken," some of the accusations hurdled against the NFA and him personally were "unfounded, unfair and sweeping."

"We are all for more participation in the program by farmers’ groups, including the smallest ones. That is why we have endorsed to the President a proposal to make rice imports exclusive to the farmers," stressed Yap.

Yap clarified that the guidelines for the Farmers and Other Sectors as Importers program were discussed, deliberated, and approved in a full-blown cabinet meeting in Sept. 17 last year, or way before Yap had assumed his post in October.

Some of the guidelines are:

• That NFA "will not" issue permits to individual importers.

• That the means to manage and control the volume to be imported would be controlled by requiring importers to open L/Cs with the LBP.

• That each entity can import a maximum of 10,000 MT for the year.

• That allocation will be determined on a first come first served basis.