AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. stressed the need for the restoration of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) regulatory powers, citing the agency’s weakened role in stabilizing the prices of rice.
“We need to restore some of NFA’s powers to help it manage the country’s rice situation more effectively,” Tiu Laurel said.
The agriculture chief also chairs the policymaking NFA Council.
“The House version of the revised RTL (Rice Tariffication Law) offered that chance — but unfortunately, the Senate Committee on Agriculture rejected it,” Tiu Laurel said.
Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro has blamed Sen. Cynthia Villar for blocking the restoration of the NFA’s powers.
Villar, in her defense, enumerated several reasons “why restoring the NFA’s mandate to stabilize rice prices is not necessary,” such as:
* limited impact on market prices as NFA’s rice distribution program historically had little influence on rice prices;
* inefficiencies in targeting and distribution, as NFA has struggled to get rice to the families who need it the most, with only 17% of poor households benefiting from NFA rice, while nearly 68% were non-poor;
* importation failures, as NFA-led rice importation has also proven ineffective and costly due to delays and lack of transparency; and
* In 2017, the NFA faced mounting debt and losses because of its strategy to buy rice from local farmers at high procurement prices and sell it to the public at subsidized rates.
Tiu Laurel, however, said that the NFA’s inability to directly sell rice to the public has hindered its ability to optimize financial resources — “funds that could have been allocated to increase rice procurement and strategic market interventions benefiting both farmers and consumers.”
Before the RTL took effect in 2019 and its amended version this year, the NFA could import rice to augment supply, allowing it to maintain a healthier buffer stock and intervene when prices surged.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson explained that even under the amended RTL, the agency may only dispose of rice stocks through auction when the rice is aging (two to three months post-milling), during a declared food security emergency, or in the event of a calamity or emergency.
The NFA chief said that it can theoretically take nine months minimum from palay purchase before an auction could happen.
Despite these constraints, the NFA chief said the agency has increased its buffer stock tenfold over the past year under DA guidance, now holding over 7.7 million 50-kilo bags — enough for 10 days of national consumption.
“With warehouses nearing capacity, the agency must soon unload stocks to make room for more palay, which it buys at P18–P19 per kilo for fresh harvest and P23 to P24 for dry. Without reforms, however, the NFA’s hands remain tied, unable to act swiftly in a volatile market that directly affects millions of Filipinos,” Lacson said. (GMA Integrated News)
