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IN a bid to achieve food security, the government is studying the possibility of bringing back the National Food Authority’s (NFA) power to sell cheap rice to the public, according to the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DepDev).

DepDev Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon told reporters on Wednesday this is one of the measures that the NFA Council is considering as it reviews the provisions of Executive Order (EO) 62.

The DepDev, a member of the NFA Council, said the agency prefers to keep the low tariffs and instead offer a “win-win” solution for both farmers and ordinary consumers.

“The issue is you want to maintain low and stable inflation, especially rice prices, but at the same time, you also want to safeguard the farmers. So, we are looking for that win-win solution,” Edillon said.

Edillon noted that the agency is open to NFA’s return to retail trade due to the change in context of the grains agency following the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), which reduced its mandate to buffer stocking.

She explained that prior to RTL, NFA was “in so much debt” and held the monopoly of imports that did not arrive at the right time.

“What we need to consider now is how the market has adjusted to the new regime, and then we’ll see if there are certain changes that could be returned […] probably its intervening powers,” Edillon said.

Meanwhile, she noted that DepDev is also studying the possibility of placing a threshold on rice tariffs that would prevent the slump in farmgate prices of unmilled rice.

“One of the considerations [in the rice tariffs] would be that we don’t want farmgate prices to fall below [a certain amount]. It will be very tricky, though, operationalizing it and even estimating,” Edillon said.

Any potential changes to the EO 62 through the tariff review would be submitted to the President by November, according to Edillon.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier called for the gradual increase of rice tariffs in the fourth quarter to prevent the spike in retail prices of the staple grain.

Such an increase should also be strategically timed with the harvest season of the country’s top suppliers to cushion its impact on local and global markets, according to the DA Secretary.

EO 62, which slashed tariffs levied on rice to 15 percent from 35 percent until 2028, took effect in July 2024. The tariff scheme is subject to a periodic review every four months from effectivity.

Source : businessmirror