Duterte to NFA: Buy palay from local farmers at reasonable price

President Rodrigo Duterte orders the National Food Authority to purchase the palay produce of local farmers at competitive prices during his press conference at the Malacañang Palace on Sept. 4, 2019. PCOO
President Rodrigo Duterte orders the National Food Authority to purchase the palay produce of local farmers at competitive prices during his press conference at the Malacañang Palace on Sept. 4, 2019. PCOO

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to purchase the palay produce of local farmers at competitive prices.

In a press conference at the Malacañang Palace on Wednesday evening, President Duterte said that the government and the farmers should arrive at a compromise on the price of palay.

“What should the solution be or will be for the secretary of Agriculture to buy all. Magkano ba presyo nila? Magkano presyo nila, bilhin natin. Lugi? Lugi talaga. Are we wasting money? No. We are not wasting money. We’re helping an industry. So malugi tayo, eh di malugi,” Duterte said.

“You cannot demand a price. You arrive at a compromise of how much you’re willing to lose a little bit. Medyo tapatan lang basta hindi malugi yung pagod nila, they are compensated,” he added.

President Duterte also asked farmers not to demand for an “unreasonable” price because Agriculture secretary William Dar “would never go into that kind of arrangement.”

Farmers have recently asked for government intervention as palay prices plunged to as low as P7 per kilo following the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, which Duterte said was “intended to serve the greater interest of the majority of the people.”

Dar, meanwhile, have suspected hoarding by some traders and millers to be behind the declining prices of palay even as he said the government will be strict in implementing sanitary and phytosanitary measures to “manage” the entry of imported rice.

The Cabinet official also said the Department of Agriculture proposed the distribution of rice to poor families as an alternative to releasing monthly cash doles so they could buy the staple food./PN

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