MANILA, 27 March 2008 — Manila and Hanoi yesterday signed an agreement enabling the Philippines to import up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese white rice, a move which the Department of Agriculture (DA) said will help beef up stockpiles and guarantee ample supply of the food staple in the months ahead.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the Vietnamese commitment will be complemented by the move of the United States’ Department of Agriculture to increase the Philippines’ credit commodity program to $75 million, which will clear the way to an additional 100,000 tons of US rice into the country.
The signing of the RP-Vietnam Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by Yap and Vietnamese Industry and Trade Minister Yu Huy Hoang was made on the sidelines in Manila of the two-day, 2008 Philippine Development Forum, which ends today.
The pact states that the “Vietnamese government agrees to sell, unless under circumstances of natural disaster and harvest loss, and the Philippines agrees to buy, up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese white rice annually for starting year 2008, subject to market and production conditions and to terms allowable under applicable laws of both countries.”
The Vietnam Southern Food Corp. and the Philippines’ National Food Authority (NFA) were the government agencies authorized to implement the terms of the MOA, which will be in effect for three years and automatically renewed for another three years, unless terminated by either of the parties through diplomatic channels six months prior to the intended date of termination.
Both the Philippines and Vietnam agreed under the MOA to take “strict measures” to stop illegal rice trading between the two countries, Yap said.
In a related development, Yap ordered the revocation of licenses of the roughly 5,000 NFA retailers in the country to flush out hoarders and other erring grains traders, and for the food agency to re-accredit only those engaged in legitimate marketing or trading activities.
Acting on a presidential directive, Yap said he will require retailers to reapply for licenses and will help ensure that only one passbook will be issued per retailer to avoid the reported multiple possessions of license by some grains traders who hoard the staple or pass off government rice as more expensive commercial stocks.
“Don’t take my word for it. Just go to any public market or retail outlet selling rice and you will find out for yourself that there is no rice shortage,” Yap said in a series of radio and television interviews after his market visits. “There is enough rice for everyone.”
These grains retailers themselves have informed him in his visits, he said, that the current situation is a far cry from the rice crisis in 1995, “when these rice traders experienced rationing or faced long lines of buyers because of supply shortfalls.”
Moreover, Yap noted that climate change has also wreaked havoc on farm production targets worldwide as what had happened when China was struck by winter blizzards and Vietnam had to cope with floods and pest outbreaks triggered by abrupt changes in its weather patterns.
