The AGRI Party-list today echoed the call of President Rodrigo Duterte during his State of the Nation Address on Monday to immediately pass the rice tariffication bill, which he had certified as urgent, as a long-term measure to lower the price of rice.
The President said that “we need to switch from the current quota system in importing rice to a tariff system where rice can be imported more freely. This will give us additional resources for our farmers, reduce the price of rice by up to seven pesos per kilo, and lower inflation significantly.”
“I ask Congress to prioritize this crucial reform, which I have certified as urgent today,” the President said during his speech.
House Bill 7735 or the “Revised Agricultural Tariffication Act” is up for plenary debates in the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to release its version of the rice tariff bill.
If passed, the prescribed import volume under Republic Act 8178 (Agricultural Tariffication Act) would be removed and imports can eventually be opened to private traders.
“We believe that rice tariffication will not only lower rice prices; the revenue from the tariffs can be used to help farmers increase their productivity,” AGRI Party-list Secretary General Benjie Martinez said.
“We believe that rice tariffication will not only lower rice prices; the revenue from the tariffs can be used to help farmers increase their productivity.”
The law, if passed, would also allow the National Food Authority (NFA), which currently has the monopoly of rice importation under the present setup, to focus on ensuring buffer stocks for rice, among other things, Martinez said.
“The current QR policy has clearly not worked in curbing rice prices. While the present system continues, it is the poor who will continue to suffer because they spend a large chunk of their incomes on rice,” Martinez added.
A policy note published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) last year revealed that people in the highest 20 percent income bracket only spend about 3 percent of their household budget on rice, while families in the poorest 20 percent spend about 21 percent of their income on the staple.
The PIDS note also pointed out that repeated extensions of QR have come with other costs in the form of concessions, which have contributed to unnecessary competitive pressure on domestic agriculture in other areas, and in some instances, higher food prices that could have been avoided.
According to the PIDS, the 2012 extension was only granted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the Philippines agreed to concessions demanded by Australia, Canada, and the US on the importation of meat, poultry, vegetables, and fruits.
