Featured News

FARMERS’ organizations on Monday expressed support for a bill that restores the National Food Authority’s (NFA) authority to intervene in the rice market, amid continuing concerns over price instability and farmgate price pressures.

The groups voiced their positions during a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, chaired by Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga, on a substitute bill consolidating 26 proposals related to the proposed Rice Industry and Consumer Empowerment (RICE) Act. Among these is House Bill 1, principally authored by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.

“Given the persistent price instability, warehouse congestion, and weakened palay pro procurement, there is now a compelling need to restore to the NFA some, two if not all, of its original regulatory and market intervention powers,” Romualdez said.

Representatives from the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) were among those who supported the measure, particularly the proposal to restore certain market intervention powers to the NFA.

FFF’s Raul Montemayor told the committee that rice prices were more stable before the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) was enacted, when the NFA had greater authority to release rice stocks in order to influence market prices.

“Right now, rice prices are fluctuating, going up and down,” he said, adding that that consumers—including rice farmers who also rely on rice purchases—are bearing the brunt of the unstable market.

“It is the middlemen—traders, importers, and wholesalers—who are benefitting from the RTL regime,” he said.

He also urged lawmakers to retain effective practices from both the pre- and post-RTL periods while discarding policies that have proven ineffective.

Sinag Executive Director Jayson Cainglet also expressed support for expanding the NFA’s palay procurement authority to help stabilize farmgate prices.

“When prices are good, that’s well and good for farmers. But when prices are low, the NFA should procure as much as 10 percent of the harvest to help influence prices,” he said.

However, he clarified that Sinag is not in favor of restoring the NFA’s trading and importation functions, stressing that government intervention should focus on local procurement.

Cainglet also emphasized that the government should prioritize buying from domestic producers, saying rice importation largely benefits foreign farmers.

For his part, Enverga said concerned agencies were given until next week to submit their position papers on the substitute bill, adding that the committee aims to finalize the measure soon before endorsing it to the House plenary.

Source : businessmirror