The planned importation of an additional 250,000-metric tons of rice for the country’s buffer stocks may have to be reviewed and validated as the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) expects a bumper rice harvest this planting season.
Flying over Oriental Mindoro from Manila today to join President Rody Duterte in his provincial sortie in Socorro town, I saw vast fields of palay nearing harvest.
This was the same scene I saw when I toured the whole of Panay Island two weeks ago and in the Bicol Region last weekend.
So far, there was no reported infestation and this season’s crops have not been affected by inclement weather.
Tomorrow, I will ask the different regional offices of the DAF to validate my observations and assumption that with the vigorous growth of rice in almost all rice farming areas of the country this season, the country could enjoy a bumper harvest.
Should this observation and assumption be validated, I will advise the National Food Authority Council to put on hold the planned importation by the private sector of an additional 250,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam.
Allowing private traders to bring in imported rice at this time would result in a drop in the buying price of palay produced by Filipino farmers.
I will suggest that instead of importing rice to beef up the country’s buffer stocks, NFA should just allocate more funds for the procurement of the farmers’ produce this season.
The local farmers’ produce could fill up whatever requirements there are to establish a sufficient buffer stock of rice for the rest of the year.
(Photos of the vast rice fields of Mindoro Oriental taken from a helicopter on the way to Socorro town. Remaining two photos were taken in M’lang, North Cotabato last month during the National Rice Board hybrid rice derby.)
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