PRESIDENT Bongbong Marcos in his 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) emphasized that his administration prioritizes the agricultural sector.
However, it cannot be denied that under his leadership, the prices of goods in the Philippines have been continuously soaring.
The price of paddy rice also dropped due to the approved Executive Order 62, which lowers the tariff on imported products such as rice, pork, corn, and others.
However, some farmers’ groups are not convinced by the President’s statements.
“We did not hear any content on how this will be done, and we should have hoped he would. We should have hoped in his speech yesterday that he would mention he would record Executive Order number 62 because this is contrary to the President’s marching order to strengthen the agricultural sector,” said Jayson Cainglet, Executive Director, SINAG.
SINAG urges BBM to drop ‘ambitious’ target of reducing rice prices to P20/kg
The group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) stressed that the President should state the solution to price hikes, particularly as global rice prices continue to rise.
SINAG has repeatedly stated that reducing tariffs on imported rice will not effectively address the issue in the Philippines, as the benefits will not be felt in the market.
“That’s why we always say that the lowering of the tariff, the flooding of imported rice, does not translate to lower prices in the market because as of now, based on monitoring, rice prices are still at P55-P65. The cheapest is P50 but far from the mentioned P35-P40 and even the P29 sold at Kadiwa,” he added.
The government says it is addressing the lowering of prices of goods, but Marcos did not lay out a clear solution to this in his 3rd SONA.
The President should also drop his ambitious goal reducing rice prices to P20 per kilo. Even those within the sector do not believe that this can be achieved due to various reasons.
“The statement that rice will be P29, especially P20— we need to let go of that aspiration because people hope that it can be lowered to P20. But in reality, it is not achievable in the next 2 to 3 years,” expressed Cainglet.
The agri sector hopes that his administration will accomplish or realize its goals.
“I hope that what the President mentioned will become concrete in the coming months. As we’ve said, if less than 50% of irrigation is good, and if we have truly effective irrigation, our production will definitely increase,” stated Cainglet.
“If our yield currently stands at 4 metric tons per hectare and we can reach 5 tons per hectare, I believe we will no longer need to import rice in the future,” he concluded.