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Bantay Bigas urges gov't to buy 20-25 pct of local rice production

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Vendors tend to their stalls selling rice at the Kamuning Market in Quezon City on August 9, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/08/18/20230809-rice-kamuning-market-jc-5.jpg"/><figcaption>Vendors tend to their stalls selling rice at the Kamuning Market in Quezon City on August 9, 2023. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — A rice price watchdog on Saturday urged government to buy at least &quot;20 to 25 percent&quot; of the fresh rice harvests of Filipino farmers, as one of the ways to bring down prices of the commodity. </p><p>Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said this was timely as harvests were expected from mid-September to November, and sell these as subsidized rice. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/25/23/rice-is-philippines-most-critical-problem-marcos-says">Rice is Philippines&#x27; &#x27;most critical problem,&#x27; Marcos says</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Walang ibang [dapat] gawin ang gobyerno kundi mag-subsidize sa presyo ng bigas... &#x27;Yung mga fresh na inaani ng ating mga magsasaka, bilhin na niya &#x27;yan,&quot; said Estavillo over Radyo 630. </p><p>&quot;Iimbak niya at ipagiling niya &#x27;yun at ibenta sa ating mga consumers through subsidized rice... para maging affordable ang presyo ng bigas sa palengke,&quot; she added.</p><p>Subsidies to farmers should be the &quot;immediate&quot; solution of the government for now, aside from tasking farmers to continue planting rice to augment the production losses in previous typhoons. </p><p>President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. as an agriculture secretary should also give &quot;at least P50,000&quot; to farmers whose crops were 100 percent destroyed by previous storms. </p><p>&quot;Ibasura na niya ang mga polisiya na nagpapahintulot ng pagbaha ng imported na bigas. Talagang pagdating sa pagkain, lalong-lalo na sa bigas, dapat hindi ipaubaya ng gobyerno sa mga private sector &#x27;yung kalakalan ng bigas at palay,&quot; she said. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/09/23/marcos-rice-supply-enough-until-2024-despite-el-nio">Marcos says rice supply enough until 2024 despite El Niño</a></li></ul><p>Marcos, Jr. in April <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/13/23/marcos-jr-ph-has-enough-rice-supply-amid-rising-prices" target="_blank">addressed the suggestion</a>, saying even if the National Food Authority would buy its buffer stock from local producers, the cost of rice will still increase in the market because the agency &quot;will buy a lot.&quot; </p><p>This is another problem they are looking at, he said. They also need to buy stocks during the production season. </p><p>“Ang problema, kapag sila ay pumasok sa merkado, pag sila’y namili na para i-replace ‘yung buffer stock na kulang nila ay tataas naman ang presyo ng bigas dahil marami silang bibilin,” he said. </p><p>The President last week said government is <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/18/23/marcos-says-closely-monitoring-rice-prices" target="_blank">&quot;closely monitoring&quot;</a> rice prices, which already topped P65 per kilo in some wet markets in Metro Manila.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WWPwazZ_Leo?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></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>

Bantay Bigas spokesperson Cathy Estavillo said this was timely as harvests were expected from mid-September to November, and sell these as subsidized rice. 