By Manny Piñol
Traders, middlemen and rice and corn farmers will be summoned to the Senate on Monday as the Committee on Agriculture starts an investigation into the oppressive buying price of rice and corn produce of farmers all over the country.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, has also served notice to government officials including the Secretary of Agriculture and the National Food Authority (NFA) to attend the Senate Investigation.
The Senate probe came as a result of my personal request to Sen. Pangilinan to look into the very low buying prices of rice and corn by traders all over the country.
From a high of P20 per kilo of paddy rice, the price has now plummeted to only P12 to P13 per kilo as the harvest season reached its peak.
Corn buying prices, on the other hand, fell from P17 per kilo to only P10 now in many parts of the country.
Traders and middlemen have reasoned out that the fall in the buying price of grains all over the country is a result of oversupply and the lack of storage facilities.
I have always debunked this reasoning calling it ridiculous simply because the country does not produce enough rice and corn for its needs.
In fact, the NFA has just approved the importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam.
While it is admitted that the lack of storage facilities affects the pieces of grains, the alibi presented by traders that they buy low because of the lack of warehouses does not hold water because they continue buying just the same.
When I talked to Sen. Pangilinan last week, I asked him to help me correct this injustice being perpetrated on the farmers by calling for a Senate investigation to come up with measures and legislation to protect the farmers.
In Lamitan City, Basilan last Monday, I informed President Rody Duterte of my request for the Senate investigation into the oppressive buying price of paddy rice and corn.
President Duterte expressed his support and said that he would like to see the age-old injustice against the farmers corrected.
(Photos of rice farmer and Sen. Pangilinan downloaded from Google.)
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