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DA's rice price fix: Higher agri budget, bigger buffer stock

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Farmers gather palay to put into sacks after a day of drying in Brgy. San Juan in Morong Rizal on June 17, 2021 during Rural Workers Month. ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/06/09/20210617-palay-farmers-rural-workers-month-jc-3.jpg"/><figcaption>Farmers gather palay to put into sacks after a day of drying in Brgy. San Juan in Morong Rizal on June 17, 2021 during Rural Workers Month. ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA - A bigger agriculture department budget and strengthening the National Food Authority can help bring down rice prices, outgoing agriculture secretary William Dar said Thursday. Dar said the NFA should be given more budget to increase its buffer stocking capacity up to 30 days from 15 days. At present, the Philippines&#x27; buffer stock is only 300,000 metric tons or up to 7 days&#x27; worth.&quot;Isang bagyo, wala na tayo. Nagkakahumahog na. My proposal is why not bring to the level of 30-day buffer stock for NFA to manage but their present capacity is only good for 15 days. The last 6 months of the year punuan natin ng budget para yung 15-day buffer stock can be possible,&quot; he told ANC&#x27;s Headstart. (One storm and we&#x27;re done. We&#x27;re scrambling for supplies. My proposal is why not bring to the level of 30-day buffer stock for NFA to manage but their present capacity is only good for 15 days. Let&#x27;s fund it more over the last 6 months of the year so the 15-day buffer stock can be possible.) &quot;And this is the rice you have to bring out to the market through the NFA retail outlets and they can sell it dati-dati (before at) P27...I-focus natin sa 4.4 million households na 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) or 22 million Filipinos.&quot; (Let&#x27;s focus this on 4.4 million 4Ps households or 22 million Filipinos.) President Rodrigo Duterte has also approved the proposal for DA to link up with the top 20 rice-producing provinces in the country &quot;so they can also do buffer stocking,&quot; Dar said. &quot;During procurement time, you can now compete with traders. Di na bababa ang presyo ng palay kasi di na binabarat,&quot; he said. &quot;That will stabilize the farmgate prices today at P19 and...farmers will have good income and the consuming public will have affordable rice.&quot; &quot;Heavy subsidies&quot; are needed if the Marcos administration wants to meet its goal of P20 per kilo of rice by next year, Dar said. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/06/22/mega-farm-inirekomenda-para-mapababa-ang-presyo-ng-bigas ">Mega farm inirekomenda para mapababa ang presyo ng bigas</a></li></ul>&quot;I am for working the program design and solutions through value chain approach to make it possible to go near P20. But when you say the timeline is to produce it and sell it by early 2023, P20 po then you have to heavily subsidize,&quot; he said. Outgoing Agrarian Reform Chief Bernie Cruz said a &quot;mega farm&quot; composed of 150,000 hectares can help bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo by second quarter of next year. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/08/22/p20kg-rice-possible-by-2023-via-mega-farm-dar-chief ">P20/kg rice possible by 2023 via &#x27;mega farm&#x27;: DAR chief</a></li></ul>Dar, however, said he has yet to &quot;understand the assumptions, the math&quot; as current data shows a record harvest of 19.96 metric tons last year planted in 4.5 million hectares. &quot;It all points out it will take some time before we can go to that near P20,&quot; he said. Bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo by 2023 is possible, according to Magsasaka Party-list Rep. Agel Cabatbat. He said Nueva Ecija had put up a provincial council that directly bought palay from farmers and sold it directly to consumers at P30 per kilo. &quot;We can really do that with political will and with necessary policy changes and of course budget support. These 2 pilot projects, no government subsidies were involved and yet they were able to accomplish P30 per kilo of rice and at the same time P36,000 per hectare net income to the local farmers,&quot; he said.

A bigger agriculture department budget and increasing rice buffer stocks can bring down rice prices, outgoing DA secretary William Dar said.