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Amid rice shortage fears, Filipino farmers enjoying 'better prices': Agri dept

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Raffy Cabristante, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A rice farmer looks at his farm in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, one of the Philippines" major="" rice="" producers.="" Jonathan="" ABS-CBN="" News="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/business/11/22/20190902-nueva-ecija-rice-jc-3166.jpg"/><figcaption>A rice farmer looks at his farm in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, one of the Philippines&#x27; major rice producers. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Filipino farmers are benefiting from global fears of a rice shortage, an agriculture official said Monday, despite earlier concerns from farmers&#x27; groups.</p><p>Agriculture Undersecretary Leo Sebastian said that Filipino farmers were &quot;enjoying better prices from their fresh harvest, perhaps sparked by global fears of a shortage resulting from the adverse impact of El Niño forcing world suppliers to tighten supply in the world market.&quot;</p><p>Data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) National Rice Program showed that palay prices nationwide between March and April had slightly increased compared to prices from the same period last year.</p><p>Palay prices in March 2023 rose to P17.69 a kilo for fresh and P19.73 for dry, slightly higher than their respective prices of P15.99 and P18.41 in March 2022. </p><p>In April 2022, fresh palay was at P17.66 per kilo while dry palay was at P20.38, also higher than their previous respective prices of P15.57 and P17.95.</p><p>The highest posted palay price was in Central Luzon at P22 for fresh palay and P25 for dry palay, DA data showed.</p><p>The DA regional office in Central Luzon reported higher palay prices in Nueva Ecija, considered the rice granary of the Philippines. There, palay prices in April 2023 was at P20.46 for dry palay and P17.64 for fresh, higher than their rates in 2022.</p><p>Isabela, another major rice producer in Luzon, also reported higher palay prices in March 2023, from P18.48 (dry palay) and P15.1 (fresh palay) in 2022 to P20.47 (dry) and P16.52 (fresh).</p><p>Sebastian said the increase of palay prices nationwide could be a big help for Filipino farmers, who he said had always been &quot;at the losing end of the rice sector.&quot;</p><p>Last April, the Federation of Free Farmers had warned of a rice crisis that may be brought by El Niño which can reduce local yields and a possibly cause a shortfall in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, one of the Philippines&#x27; main sources of rice imports.</p><p>&quot;If we are to rely [on] imports, iyong pumapasok na imported ngayon ay medyo mahal. (The imported rice coming into the country is quite expensive.) That also explains why palay price is going up. That&#x27;s another thing we have to watch out for—imports,&quot; FFF national manager Raul Montemayor said.</p><p>But President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who also heads the DA, allayed these fears, saying he did not expect a rice crisis to happen in the country.</p><p>&quot;We are watching and waiting to see what the production levels are going to be after the last planting season before the harvest, for the upcoming harvest and what will be… Basta’t nag-harvest na tayo. Pagka-umani na tayo, wala ng problema sa supply,&quot; Marcos said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/26/23/agri-group-warns-rice-crisis-possible-due-to-el-nio">Agri group warns &#x27;rice crisis&#x27; possible due to El Niño</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/19/23/marcos-rules-out-rice-crisis-govt-open-to-importation">Marcos rules out rice crisis in coming months, says gov&#x27;t open to importation</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2767903" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Filipino farmers are benefiting from global fears of a rice shortage due to El Niño, an agriculture official claimed.

Amid rice shortage fears, Filipino farmers enjoying 'better prices': Agri dept

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Amid rice shortage fears, Filipino farmers enjoying 'better prices': Agri dept

Raffy Cabristante,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 21, 2023 07:05 PM PHT

Read More:

El Niño

rice shortage

palay

rice farmers

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