ZAMBO RICE CRISIS OVER
AS FRESH STOCKS ARRIVE
By Manny Piñol
Zamboanga City – Two weeks after news broke out of a rice shortage in Zamboanga City and the three island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawitawi, local officials today heaved a sigh of relief as it was officially declared that the crisis is over with the arrival of fresh stocks from the National Food Authority and the neighboring provinces where harvest has started.
In a meeting with local officials from Zamboanga City led by Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco, Zamboanga Sibugay Governor Wilter Palma and representatives from the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawitawi, it was established that the NFA rice now being unloaded in the Port of Zamboanga and commercial rice coming from other provinces are enough to supply the needs of the area for at least 15 days.
The current inventory of NFA rice stocks stands at:
– 100,000 bags for Zamboanga City;
– 30,000 bags for Basilan
– 30,000 bags for Sulu; and
– 30,000 bags for Tawitawi
At a consumption rate of 6,000 bags a day, Zamboanga City has NFA stocks good for 16 days, not including commercial rice brought in by private traders.
The additional supply needed by the area, known as ZAMBASULTA, could be sourced from the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur and North Cotabato where farmers have started harvesting their crops.
During the meeting, local officials thanked President Rody Duterte for dispatching the Agriculture Secretary to Zamboanga City to personally handle the problem.
They also asked President Duterte for the following support:
– A special import allocation of 132,000MT to sustain the needs of the ZAMBASULTA area until the rehabilitation of the rice industry of the region;
– The establishment of a Rice Trading Center in either Tawitawi or Sulu where imported rice could be directly brought in with the required tariffs, instead of allowing the proliferation of rice smuggling which killed the rice industry of the area.
The Department of Agriculture also pledged the following support:
– A P100-M rice production loan portfolio under the PLEA Program of the DA-ACPC to finance rice farmers;
– The development of a 1,000-hectare rice demonstration area in the city of Zamboanga and the three island provinces to serve as a learning center for rice farmers;
– The establishment of Solar Powered Irrigation Systems and deployment of farm machinery and equipment in the islands to support the rice production program.
The ZAMBASULTA Region, which has been largely dependent on smuggled rice from Vietnam via Malaysia, ran out of commercial rice supply a month ago when the rice smuggling operations were stopped by Malaysian and Filipino authorities.
Rice prices shot up to about P60 per kilo in Zamboanga City to as high as P80 in Tawitawi and Sulu.
Prices are expected to stabilize in two weeks with the arrival of the fresh rice stocks.
(Photos of the dialogue between the DA Secretary and DA officials with local executives of the ZAMBASULTA region were taken by Alan Jay Jacalan, DA-AFID)
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