URDANETA CITY—The Abono Party-list, which represents the agricultural sector, has thrown its support to the stand of Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dante Delima that the National Food Authority (NFA) should not be abolished.

However, the party, through its chairman Rosendo So, disagrees with Delima on plan to  extend the quantitative restriction (QR) on imported rice.

Delima, also the national rice program coordinator, admitted that there is renewed pressure from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to abolish the NFA and scrap the QR on imported rice.

So said local rice growers need the NFA, which is mandated to help farmers sell palay at a profit while making sure that the price of rice for the Filipino consumers remains stable and affordable.

“With the flood of smuggled rice in the local market, the government should increase the NFA’s budget for palay procurement as an incentive for farmers to keep on planting,” So said.

He noted that commercial rice millers have been buying palay minimally  as their warehouses are full.

On the issue of QR on rice, So said another extension will not insure a regulated entry of rice, either legally or through smuggling.

SMUGGLED RICE

“We have been using quantitative restriction on rice as a regulatory measure against the influx of imported rice but experience tells us otherwise,” So said.

“We are drowning in smuggled rice and the farmers are not happy,” he added.

So said the Philippine commitment to the World Trade Organization is for a minimum access volume (MAV) of 350,000 metric tons for rice per year to enter the country with tariff rate of 40 percent and 50 percent outside the quota.

He said the NEDA and DBM should instead program more funding support to make local rice production viable since this is an industry that generates livelihood and income for the farmers in the countryside.

So said the local stakeholders of agriculture welcome the call of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines for the government to check the $20 billion smuggling hole that is adversely affecting the manufacturing and agriculture sectors of the country.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines is composed of American Chamber of Commerce of the Phils., Inc. ; Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (Phils.), Inc.; Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Phils. Inc.; European Chamber of Commerce of the Phils., Inc.; Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of the Phils., Inc.; Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Phils., Inc.; and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters, Inc.

Abono has long been campaigning to stop the smuggling of pork, poultry, rice and other agricultural products.—Eva Visperas

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