BY ATTY. KATHYRIN PIOQUINTO
The familiar aroma of rice cooking in a Filipino household is more than just a sensory delight.
It’s a symbol of a nation’s heritage and a reflection of its economic and agricultural dynamics.
Today, this aroma carries with it the weight of policy decisions, global events, and the hopes and struggles of our farmers.
Dive back to 2018, when the Philippines grappled with a rice crisis. Prices soared, stocks dwindled, and the National Food Authority (NFA) faced importation challenges.
Thereafter, the enactment of the Rice Tariffication Law replaced the quantitative restrictions on imported rice with tariffs of 35 to 40 percent and established the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) funded by the tariff revenues.
Intervention from then-President Rodrigo Duterte stabilized the situation, but the crisis had deeper implications.
Fast forward to 2023, and echoes of the past reverberate.
With NFA stocks at a critically low level and global events affecting rice importation, the nation finds itself at another crossroad.
This backdrop set the stage for the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) in 2019. Pitched as a panacea, it aimed to usher in a new era for the rice industry. Its proponents argued for a more efficient, private-sector-led rice market, sidelining NFA’s traditional roles.
The immediate aftermath saw rice imports skyrocketing, with 2022 witnessing a staggering 3.85 million tons of imported rice.
But herein lay the paradox.
As imports surged, local farmers felt the pinch with plummeting palay prices.
But the RTL was not without its merits. From 2019 to 2021, it generated P46.6 billion in rice import duties. This revenue was earmarked for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), designed to bolster the Filipino farmer’s global standing through mechanization, quality seeds, credit access, and training.
On paper, the RCEF’s achievements are impressive: over a million farmers receiving high-yield seeds, an 830,000-hectare increase in productive palay farms, and vast strides in farm machinery and training.
Rice reforms in the Philippines have always been a pendulum swing between market interventions and liberalization.
The saga is a tale of finding balance—how do you merge economic objectives with the heartbeat of a nation’s socio-cultural fabric?
The current rice conundrum underscores the need for visionary leadership in the Department of Agriculture—a leader with a profound understanding of these intricacies, an unwavering commitment to farmers, and a proactive approach to policy formulation.
Such leadership is essential in navigating the benefits of RTL, like the substantial tariff revenues, against its unintended consequences, such as the decline in farmers’ incomes and our increasing reliance on imports.
The revenues from RTL present an unprecedented opportunity, but their allocation and utilization remain under scrutiny. With over P46.6 billion collected over three years, the nation deserves transparency in how these funds are channeled. This year, preliminary rice tariff collection has reached P16.81 billion from January to Aug. 26 or six percent above the P15.82 billion posted in the same period last year.
Are the programs under RCEF truly reaching their intended beneficiaries?
Are there gaps in implementation?
And more importantly, are we genuinely listening to the voices of our farmers?
In essence, rice is more than a staple. It’s the Philippines’ soul.
As we grapple with global challenges, policy decisions, and the ever-evolving rice saga, the path forward must be paved with sound economic strategies, empathetic leadership, and a deep-rooted commitment to our farmers and national identity.
Only then can we craft a rice narrative that’s not just about numbers, but about stories, resilience, and hope for a prosperous future.