NFA NEEDS P10 BILLION TO HELP FARMERS AS PALAY PRICES PLUNGE

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte inspects the decommissioned firearms and the decommissioning process area as he attends the second phase launching of the decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants and weapons at the Old Capitol Compound in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on September 7, 2019.'Mamamatay ako pag walang babae'
A crime scene investigator looks at the bullet-riddled Toyota Innova of former Pangasinan Governor and Congressman Amado Espino Jr. after it was ambushed on Wednesday afternoon, September 11, 2019. Photo from Sen. Richard Gordon's FBDriver of Ex-Gov. Espino dies
a close up of a pond: Photo: ADB Instagram (IG: adb_hq)
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The National Food Authority (NFA) needs at least P10 billion to sufficiently help farmers as the Rice Tariffication law, which allows unlimited rice imports, impacts on their livelihood, Makabayan bloc lawmakers said Friday.

Makabayan bloc party-list legislators Carlos Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Euphemia Cullamat of Bayan Muna, France Castro of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, and Sarah Elago of Kabataan made the call as farmers feel the bite of tariffication on imported rice that brought palay farmgate prices to as low as P7 per kilo.

“Kami sa Makabayan, tingin namin P10 billion ang kailangang ibigay sa NFA para mabili nila ang palay sa mga magsasaka ng P20 per kilo, at para maibenta ito ng NFA sa merkado ng P27 per kilo. ‘Yan ang budget na kailangan para masubsidize ng gobyerno ang mga magsasaka,” Zarate told reporters.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the NFA to buy palay from farmers—an NFA function that has been removed under the Rice Tariffication law.

While the President ordered the NFA to help the farmers, he did not commit any funding to the task.

Asked about the President’s proposal, Agriculture Secretary William Dar told lawmakers during the budget hearing on the proposed P71.8-billion DA budget for 2020 that the administration is mulling on seeking a joint resolution authorizing the release funds to NFA.

A grave mistake

ACT’s Castro claimed the President’s order was an admission that the Rice Tariffication law was a grave mistake.

“Function na ito dati ng NFA. Ngayon, binabalik niya. Pag-amin ito na mali talagang ipasa itong Rice Tariffication law,” Castro said.

The Rice Tariffication law, signed by Duterte into law last February, also provides for a yearly P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to support rice farmers in the next six years.

Dar has said the plight of the farmers is temporary, considering that the government has so far collected P9.2 billion of tariffs for RCEF, and could still collect up to P15 billion this year.

Makabayan lawmakers, however, said that farmers could not pin their hopes on the RCEF—noting that the fund is not a direct subsidy but financial support to improve farm yields which would not be felt immediately by farmers.

“Sa RCEF… aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo?” Gaite said.

“Hindi rin kasi direkta ang RCEF. For mechanization and other ‘yun eh. Ang kailangan nila ngayon, direktang tulong,” Zarate said.

Brosas agreed, saying that farmers are in an emergency situation.

“Ang kailangan ng mga magsasaka, subsidiya, hindi pautang,” Brosas said, referring to the P15,000 loan granted to each farmer tending a one-hectare land under the DA’s Survival and Recovery (SURE) aid program. #  Source - VDS, GMA News