Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has disclosed that there are at least six million bags of National Food Authority rice that has been stocked too long and may rot if not disposed of soon, as he urged Congress to pass a law allowing the NFA to sell its stocks in the market.
According to Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa, the Rice Tariffication Law removed all the regulatory powers of the NFA and it is only allowed to sell its stocks to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Office of Civil Defense, and local government units.
“To prevent the rice stocks from aging, we have the P29 program to release some of the stocks but the volume is not that big. We will have the next harvest season and if the stocks will not be released, it will be difficult for the NFA to procure because of so many stocks and this is where we will have possible problems,” De Mesa noted.
He added that even under the RTL, the NFA can only sell rice in the Kadiwa stores if the National Price Coordinating Council recommends to the DA the release of the stocks because of too much increase in the retail prices or shortage in the supply of the grains.
During the hearing of the House quinta committee, Tiu Laurel urged lawmakers to pass a law to bring back the mandates of the NFA prior to the RTL.
In a country that has become one of the world’s biggest importers of rice, a staple which is still being sold at high prices at marketplaces, despite a campaign promise to bring down prices to P20 per kilogram, six million bags of rice cannot be left to rot simply because of laws that were enacted, apparently without giving too much thought at the big picture. If the role of the NFA has become ambiguous because of the RTL that sought to quickly solve the rice problem via the short sighted route of importation, why does it have 6 million bags of rice on hand that are now in danger of rotting and going to waste in a nation where so many go hungry?
Will bringing back the mandates of the NFA prior to the RTL be a long term and sustainable solution to the problems of the rice industry and food security? Or is it another knee jerk reaction that comes after a long list of short-sighted solutions that our government officials have been offering when what we need is a comprehensive, long term solution to a problem that has been nagging the country for decades?*
