Farmers' Group Raps NFA Head on Rice Import Move

Romeo David, the newly appointed administrator of the National Food Authority (NFA), incurred the
ire of a major farmers' group last week when he announced that the government was determined to
import 200,000 to 300,000 to tons of rice from Indonesian to meet an expected shortage.

In a press release, David stressed that the NFA would be making a lot of money in the deal, which, he
said, would involve no cash outlay in NFA's part.

But the major farmers' organizations in the country are now saying that David could not have picked a
worse time to make the announcement, just when the country's three million Filipino farmers are
beginning to harvest their crops.

The immediate effect of his press release: Palay price all over the country have plunged to the great
disadvantage of the rice farmers.

Organized rice farmers, led by the militant Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (KMP), have already aired
fears that palay prices may again nosedive to P2.80 a kilo or almost one-third the price of animal feeds.

Their fears are anchored on the fact that NFA does not have the cash to buy at least five percent of
this cropping season's yield and prevent traders from offering bottom prices.

"Instead of helping the farmers, David showed his ignorance of rice culture and a bias against the very
people he is supposed to serve," the KMP said.

Projections by the Department of Agriculture of an impending rice shortage could only be viewed with
suspicion. Data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics prove that a local rice shortage is remote.

Land planted with rice has been estimated at 4.5 million hectares, yielding an average of 60 cavans
per hectares. During the main cropping season, total harvest is 27 million cavans.

Half of the rice lands irrigated and farmed two or three times a year. That would yield at east 60
million or more bags of rice farmers produce no less than 200 million cavans of rice a year.

Each Filipino eats two cavans of rice or 100 kilos a year. With 60 million mouths to feed, a year's
harvest is still 80 million cavans more than actual needs.

So why the need to import?

The Agriculture Journalists Association of the Philippines has come out with a position paper, urging
the Ramos government into reversing a prevalent anti-farmer bias of government policies on
agriculture.

Central to this bias has been government control of palay and rice prices through an illusory subsidy.
NFA has set P6.00 a kilo as its subsidized price for palay but has no money to buy at that price.

What the traders have been doing was the use of the NFA price as ceiling. They only offer the same
price during the months of August and September when most of the farmers' harvests are already in the
traders' warehouses.

At the height of the harvest season, the traders bring down prices even lower than the break-even
cost of producing the cereal at P4.50 a kilo. (MNC)

Source: Business Section, Manila Standard, (Oct. 19, 1992)