MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) stated Tuesday that due to budget constraints, it is unable to procure palay or unmilled rice from local farmers but is cooperating with other authorities to address the commodity’s low farmgate prices.
According to Agriculture secretary William Dar, the agency was in talks with the National Food Authority (NFA) to procure the palay from local farmers given the agency’s available budget.
“Wala po kaming mandato na bibili ng palay. Hindi ho namin kaya. Malaki ‘yung budget,” Dar told reporters in a virtual briefing.
This, after the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura called on the DA to buy palay from local farmers at P19 per kilogram for dry, and P16 per kilogram for fresh harvest.
The group said farmgate prices of palay have plunged to P10 to P13 per kilogram, way below the production cost of P15 per kilogram. NFA data showed that its buying price for palay is at P19 per kilogram for both individual farmers and farmer organizations.
DA was also in coordination with local government units and multipurpose cooperatives, encouraging them to procure palay from local farmers.
Additionally, it stated that it was possible to align the funds for the Department of Social Welfare and Development for 2022 with the NFA to buy palay for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
“We were working with them, and the discussions are almost in the final stage. Last quarter, the budget for the rice subsidy na binibigay nila dati na pera sa GAA 2021 ay pwedeng ibigay sa NFA kung may critical level of prices that are too low for the farmers,” he added.
The secretary noted that the National Economic and Development Authority is also looking into the matter.(GMA News)
