DAVAO CITY- A repeat of April 2008 rice crisis threatens to happen at this early part of the year. In DavaoCity, rice price has started to increase by PhP3 to PhP6 per kilo bringing the price now to PhP27- PhP36.
Traders gathering in the International Rice Conference held in Cebu in December 2009 even projected a 60-percent price increase.
In a report, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap shrugged off the P5- P10 per sack price increase saying the lean season and low supply caused by the recent typhoons make the price hike ‘normal and logical’.The DA, he said, is not alarmed by this price movement as the country’s grain supply is stable, citing 2.5 million metric tons (MT) of rice stocks in the system and another 500,000 MT with retailers. In complete agreement, National Food Authority (NFA) Director for Public Affairs Rex C. Estoperez said that accredited retailers would start to buy more NFA rice if there is a shortage but this is not happening.
However, the sentiments of rice farmers and consumers tell otherwise. For Enrico Lupiba, a farmer of Sta. Maria, Nabunturan, “Maayo lang kadtung mga mag-uuma nga adunay napundong palay. Apan kasagaran sa mga mag-uuma walay pundo kay gibaligya dayon ang ilang harvest aron ibayad sa utang. Busa posible nga kaadlawon pa lang magpila na sad sila aron makakuha lang sa 2 ka kilo nga bugas sa NFA (Lucky for farmers who were able to stock palay. But most of the farmers immediately sell their produce right after harvest to pay for their debts. So it is possible that they will again fall in line starting at dawn just to have 2 kilos of NFA rice).
“Ang pagsaka sa presyo sa bugas, makaapekto sa budget sa among pamilya (the rice price increase has an impact on our family budget),” Arsenia Cuestas of Barangay. Baylo in Monkayo, CompostelaValley shared. Poor households earning meager income could no longer afford even an increase of P1 or P2 per kilo, much more if the increase is higher.
Despite the government assurance, the price increase creates a crisis scenario as in the 2008 ‘rice crisis’ that was attributed to price manipulation of traders. The Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), Inc., a non-profit research and advocacy organizations based in Davao City calls for addressing the issue of national rice self- sufficiency to protect producers and consumers from artificial shortage. This involves non-conversion of rice fields to other uses or crops, provision of higher budget allocation for irrigation and post-harvest facilities and adoption of environment-friendly low cost technologies. Complacency on this issue is tantamount to curtailing people’s right to food. ##
