Tag: rice tariffication

NFA-NegOcc programs rice distribution until August

BACOLOD CITY — The National Food Authority (NFA) in Negros Occidental has programmed its rice distribution efforts until this August as part of its remaining mandate following the liberalization of the rice industry.

Frisco Canoy, provincial manager of NFA-Negros Occidental, said starting Tuesday, Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Import and Export Libelization Law took effect, thereby removing the agency’s regulatory functions over international and domestic trading of rice.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA 11203 on February 14, which lifted import restrictions on rice to make the price of the staple commodity more affordable.

Canoy said the NFA-Negros Occidental will now concentrate on its buffer stocking for calamities and emergencies role.

The National Food Authority provincial office in Negros Occidental located in Bacolod City.
PNA Bacolod file photo

This is still part of ensuring the food security mandate of the NFA and the same guidelines on palay procurement with the current support price of PHP20.70 per kilogram will be implemented, he added.

“We have programmed the distribution until August this year. We are on ‘wait and see’ status in terms of distribution,” Canoy said.

As of Tuesday, the NFA-Negros Occidental still has a buffer stock inventory of 195,000 bags. These stocks are part of the province’s recent import allocation from Myanmar and Vietnam.

If there is no new instructions from the NFA central office, they will continue to distribute the remaining stocks to the market, Canoy said.

Government rice with a buying price of PHP25 per kilogram at the NFA is being sold by accredited retailers at PHP27 per kilogram.

With the rice tariffication taking effect, the NFA can no longer import rice for distribution to local traders and retailers.

The initial implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Rice Import and Export Libelization Law was presented during the consultation with the Visayas stakeholders in Iloilo City on March 1.

“The law is not yet fully implemented. There are still additional provisions, or maybe amendments, that will be included in the final version of the IRR,” Canoy said.

Under the law, provincial offices like the NFA-Negros Occidental can no longer act on licensing and registration of persons and entities engaged in the grains business, and collection of regulatory fees.

Other functions stripped from the agency included the issuance of negotiable warehouse receipts, warehouse inspection, authority to seize hoarded stocks and enforce rules and regulations in the grains business. (PNA)

NegOcc prepares farmers for rice tariffication

BACOLOD CITY — The Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) of Negros Occidental underscored the need to prepare rice farmers for coping with challenges brought by the tariffication measure.

“Our farmers really need the help of the government mainly in terms of lowering down production cost and increasing productivity,” Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino said on Sunday, two days after President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the measure lifting restrictions on rice importation.

Masculino noted that one major effect would be cheaper price of imported than locally-produced rice.

Rice stocks imported by the National Food Authority being unloaded at the Bredco port in Bacolod City.
File photo from National Food Authority-Negros Occidental

Necessary interventions should be done immediately given the little time to prepare as the implementing rules and regulations may be out soon, he added.

Negros Occidental is known as the country’s top sugar-producing province, but it has also become one of the top 10 rice producers in the past years in its bid to become 100 percent rice-sufficient.

Masculino said one measure to reduce production cost of Negrense rice farmers is mechanization, which the provincial government has already been implementing since last year.

He added that if the government can seriously implement mechanization by providing funds for the purchase of machineries, it would be a big help because labor comprises more than 50 percent of the total production cost.

“Our mechanization accomplishment, especially in the planting and harvesting stages, is still minimal. If we can just fully mechanize at least our irrigated areas of 40 hectares, it would already be a big thing,” Masculino said.

Duterte certified the rice tariffication bill as urgent in October 2018 “to address the urgent need to improve availability of rice in the country, to prevent artificial rice shortage, reduce the prices of rice in the market, and curtail the prevalence of corruption and cartel domination in the rice industry.”

A month after the President certified the measure as urgent, a report on the bill was ratified by the bicameral conference committee.

Under the rice tariffication law, quantitative restrictions on rice importation are lifted and private traders are allowed to import the commodity from countries of their choice.

The law imposes a 25-percent duty on rice imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member-states and a 50-percent rate on imports from non-members of the regional bloc. (PNA)

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1062168