THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said Saturday that the buying prices for dry palay or paddy rice in the country’s top rice-producing areas reached P19 per kilo.
The price was at par with the maximum buying price set by the National Food Authority (NFA), the DA said in a statement.
Citing a quick palay price survey report made by the Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM) from Sept. 16 to 30, the Agriculture department said the prices of palay averaged P18 per kilo in Central Luzon and P19 per kilo in Cagayan Valley.
The two regions are the country’s top rice producers, accounting for roughly 19 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, of the total national harvest in 2019 at 18.8 million metric tons (MMT).
In the same report, PRiSM said the price for freshly-harvested palay in the two regions averaged at P14 per kilo.
Agriculture secretary William Dar said the prevailing palay prices in the Philippines towards the end of the second semester 2020 were higher than in previous years.
Grains traders and middlemen usually buy wet or freshly-harvested palay, with high moisture content or MC, at 35 percent to 40 percent lower than dried grains at 14 percent MC, as they shoulder the costs of hauling, transportation, and drying, according to the DA.
The NFA, an attached corporation of the Department of Agriculture, buys dry palay with 14 percent MC at P19 per kilo nationwide.
It also buys wet palay at a pro-rata basis, and offers free transport at designated barangays, DA-NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal said.
The PRiSM project is an online system that consolidates and presents accurate, timely, and location-specific information on the status of rice crops that includes: rice area estimates, planting dates, yield estimates, and crop health assessments.
A separate survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority during the last two weeks of September showed that farmgate prices of palay were at P17.12 per kilo, 5.8 percent higher than P16.18 per kilo in 2019, for the same period.
“Our PRiSM data, therefore, debunks the disinformation waged by interest groups against the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), blaming it for the decline in prices of palay,” Dar said.
“The interest groups, along with former DA officials, have exaggerated data on palay to push for the amendment or repeal of the RTL. They are resurrecting old arguments against RTL,” he added.
The PRiSM survey was conducted in 16 regions, among 219 respondents, composed of farmers, traders, and millers, the DA said.
The survey also considered palay price monitoring reports from DA-regional field offices and provincial and municipal local government units.(GMA News)
