A YEAR after the Rice Tariffication Law took effect, prices of rice in the Philippines dropped by P10 than average price, Trade secretary Ramon Lopez reported Sunday.
“Nakita natin ‘yung pagbaba, halos mga P10 on the average. Kung dati mga P49 pataas ang presyo ng well-milled rice, ngayon mga P40 pababa naman, mga P38, P39. In fact, meron pa ngang P36. Sa grocery, may P34, ‘yung 10 kilo, P340,” Lopez revealed in an interview.
Signed in February last year, the Rice Tariffication Law allows unlimited importation of rice as long as private sector traders secure a phytosanitary permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry and pay the 35 percent tariff for shipments from neighbors in Southeast Asia.
The law also provides for a P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to be set up to help local farmers improve their livelihood. The fund will come from the tariff collections from the rice import. Of this amount, P5 billion will be allotted to farm mechanization, P3 billion to seedlings and P1 billion to expanded rice credit assistance.
Lopez reported that farmers are already benefiting from the RCEF.
In addition, the chief said the Department of Agriculture is encouraging a slowing down of imports in the country now that the intended effects of the Rice Tariffication Law are already showing. (GMA News)
