MANILA, 31 March 2008 — The Department of Agriculture has secured a P12 billion-fund from the Land Bank of the Philippines to support its ongoing initiatives to stabilize rice prices and boost the production of the staple and other food crops.
This P12-billion credit facility is on top of the heightened initiatives to stabilize rice prices amid the sufficient domestic supply, which include allowing the private sector to engage in rice imports, lowering tariffs on imports, and making the National Food Authority (NFA) engage in the direct or supervised selling not only of government-subsidized rice but of medium-priced varieties as well.
In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, DA Undersecretary and National Agriculture and Fisheries Council (NAFC) director Bernie Fondevilla said that of this P12 billion fund, P5 billion will benefit farmers in the country’s palay-growing areas.
NFA to Sell Commercial Rice
Starting this week, the National Food Authority will also sell mid-priced commercial rice varieties aside from the usual government-subsidized rice in a bid to stabilize the retail prices of the staple for both low- and middle-income consumers.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said the NFA would initially unload rice varieties priced at P24 to P25 a kilo in retail and wet markets in Metro Manila under its direct and supervised selling program.
Yap said the Department of Agriculture was set to supply daily an additional 10,000 bags of NFA and commercial rice combined to Metro Manila.
As soon as the mechanism has been set, he said the DA would also increase rice distribution, particularly in the top 10 provinces with the highest hunger incidence.
According to Yap, the DA is carrying out a twin-pronged approach to guarantee stable stocks and prices of rice which involves sustaining higher production and securing imports while the country is still in the process of attaining its food self-sufficiency targets.
