PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has signed an executive order (EO) that establishes a floor price for palay, or unmilled rice – a move meant to help farmers profit from their harvest.
EO 100, which Marcos Jr. signed Saturday, October 25, also introduces “trigger mechanisms” for when the floor price will be implemented against “unfairly low” farmgate prices of palay.
This also sought to make sure that they would have an equitable profit, despite production costs.
Marcos Jr. said the lack of a “just and equitable” floor price puts farmers at the mercy of “volatile market prices” especially during the peak of harvest season.
He said the low prices, sometimes lower than production cost, are “due to oversupply, weather-related impacts, or unfair trading practices” and undermine farmers’ livelihood, farm productivity and agricultural sustainability.
DA to determine, adjust floor price
EO 100 also tasks the Department of Agriculture (DA) with determining and adjusting the floor price for palay “taking into account production costs, market conditions, and farmers’ welfare, while also balancing consumer affordability.”
A steering committee with representatives of the DA, and the interior, trade, agrarian reform and social welfare departments and the National Food Authority will work on setting and implementing the floor price.
Traders who get palay below the established floor price are subject to administrative action.
The steering committee will also conduct regular monitoring of farmgate transactions and submit quarterly reports to the President on the policy’s implementation and impact on farmer incomes and rice supply stability.
The order also states that government agencies and local government units could store palay when warehouses are unavailable.
The EO is one of two measures that Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chair of the Senate agriculture and food committee, said Marcos Jr. is expected to sign to improve farmers’ livelihoods while amendments to the Rice Tarrification Law are pending in Congress.
The Rice Tarrification Law removed limits on rice imports but imposed duties on them to keep them from flooding the market.
Farmers’ groups have blamed the law for driving farmgate prices down, adding the measure has not lowered rice prices much. (ABS-CBN News)
