Senator Recto told the Department of Agriculture to investigate ‘cheaper than face mask’ palay prices.
Senator Ralph Recto encouraged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to probe the supposed grievance of rice farmers regarding the price of a kilo of newly-harvested palay.
This, as Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Monday said that the price of a kilo of newly-harvested palay had gone down to PHP 12 amid the pandemic.
According to him, the said buying price — as claimed in several social media posts — was “lower than the price of a face mask” and won’t give the farmers any revenue.
In a statement, Recto said that the least that the Department of Agriculture can do was to spot areas wherein palay was being bought at bargain prices and to recommend measures on how to shore it up so that farmers won’t be at the losing end.
Citing official government data, Recto said that PHP 17.64 was the average farm gate price of a kilo of palay as of the first week of September. However, Recto added, that the said amount may not be reflective of the said price tag on the ground.
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Senator Recto, a former chief of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said that the Department of Agriculture should look into how the rice imports were affecting the local prices and “pull the brakes” if needed.
Recto also emphasized that several countries that export rice to the Philippines had adopted a policy of limiting such in order to support their own demands amid the pandemic.
According to Recto, local production must be boosted in order to fill up the share of the rice imports in the Philippines, which was about 13 percent, but the low buying prices of palay would hamper this.
“Kung ganyan ‘yan, at hindi maagapan, baka maging plantito at plantita na lang ang mga rice farmers kung nakikita nila na mas mas mahal ang bentahan ng mga ito“, Recto said.
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