The Department of Agriculture (DA) is pushing for the restoration of key regulatory powers of the National Food Authority (NFA) through amendments to the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL)—but not the authority to import rice.
In a statement, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. clarified during a recent Senate Committee on Agriculture hearing that rice importation will remain with the private sector. However, private importers will now be required to share the responsibility of maintaining the country’s rice buffer stock.
“They have to have skin in the game,” Tiu Laurel said. “If we aim to have a 20-day rice buffer stock, we’re thinking of a 50-50 split between the NFA and the private sector.”
Under the proposed setup, rice imports will follow a controlled model similar to the sugar import program of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, where only qualified importers are given import allocations. Importers, in turn, would be obligated to procure palay from local farmers at fair prices for buffer stocking.
“With the private sector partly doing the buffer stocking, sourcing from local rice farmers, it will also reduce the cost of buffer stocking for government,” the DA chief said.
At present, the NFA—stripped of regulatory powers under the current RTL—can only purchase about 5 percent of national palay output due to limited warehousing and drying capacity, and is confined to stocking rice for emergency and disaster relief.
Tiu Laurel also raised the need for the DA to have regulatory power over rice imports to prevent oversupply, which has led to depressed farmgate prices.
“We must regain control,” he said at the House Committee on Agriculture hearing, held shortly after the Senate briefing. “Rice is a commodity imbued with too much public interest to leave entirely to the private sector. “
The DA Secretary said if needed, attached corporations Food Terminal, Inc. and Planters Products Inc. could import on behalf of the government.
The proposed changes aim to strike a balance between ensuring affordable rice for consumers and protecting the livelihoods of Filipino rice farmers.
