“Why export Mindanao rice when the Philippines is importing?”
This was the question raised by many following the posting of my report on Friday of a prospective export of Mindanao Premium Rice to Papua New Guinea sometime this year.
Actually, it is not only Papua New Guinea where the MinDA would like to export Mindanao Premium Rice to.
Also considered as market destinations of Mindanao’s Premium and Organic Rice are Hongkong, the Middle East and the United States where the Don Bosco Multi-Purpose Cooperative based in North Cotabato has been selling Organic Black Rice.
Not a few called the idea of exporting “dumb” because they could not seem to understand why Mindanao would export its rice while the rest of the Philippines is importing.
The recent implementation of the Rice Liberalisation Law which resulted in the flooding of the local market with imported rice has brought down the farm gate price of locally produced paddy rice to as low as P10 to P12 in many parts of Mindanao.
(Unknown to many though, the law also allows the free export of rice produced locally.)
With rice importers enjoying hefty profits from imported rice brought in at about P23 and sold at between P40 to P50, nobody seems to be interested in buying the local paddy rice which offers traders a very slim margin of profit.
Local traders are also afraid to buy huge volumes of local rice because the importers could easily lower the selling price of imported rice.
This is a phenomenon which I call “Boxing Out,” similar to a strategy in basketball preventing a player access to the goal.
The solutions being presented by government now – loan support, free seeds and implements and commitment by the local government units to buy farmers’ produce – do not address the problem of market denial.
Yesterday, my brother, M’lang Vice Mayor Lito Piñol told me that a rice farmer from a village in the town went home crying because no trader would buy his RC222 production, an inbred rice variety with high yield but poor eating quality.
While traders are refusing ordinary rice varieties, Don Bosco Multi-Purpose Cooperative has steadily bought organic black and brown rice produced by Mindanao farmers at P19 because there is a niche market for the product.
This offers a window of opportunity for Mindanao rice farmers who, properly guided and linked with the market, could shift to the production of Premium Quality rice like Dinorado, RC160, RC218 or Double Diamond, 7-Tonner or Banaybanay Rice which command a higher price.
This could be the start of the shift to Organic Rice farming to serve the needs of a niche market of health-conscious consumers who prefer chemical-free rice.
While Agriculture in Mindanao is only one of the concerns of MinDA, it is now focusing on the basic issues of giving fruit, coconut and rice farmers access to the market.
Failure on the part of government to address this basic issue could lead to economic woes which could result in security problems in Mindanao.
The marketing strategy now would be to present Mindanao’s Premium Rice as a special product to enable it to command a better price and ensure farmers a decent income.
MinDA will help Mindanao Rice farmers gain access to foreign markets with large Filipino communities with a marketing pitch which would emphasise that by buying Mindanao Rice, they not only get a quality product but they will also help Filipino farmers survive the onslaught of unimpeded entry of imported rice.
So, to those asking why Mindanao will export while the rest of the country imports, the answer is simple: Traders are importing a commodity while Mindanao is exporting a special product.
(Photos show members of the Board of Directors of Don Bosco Multi-Purpose Cooperative during an informal meeting in my farm house in Kidapawan City last night with my daughter, Dr. Maria Krista Piñol-Solis, member of the provincial board of North Cotabato and seed grower, Nathanael Fabila. Two other photos show Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Philippine Ambassador to PNG Bienvenido Tejano witnessing the signing of an MOU on agricultural cooperation between Central Province Governor Robert Agarobe and Mindanao rice farmers represented by the MinDA Chairman. Photos by Mayette Tudlas, Bong Piñol and Lito Piñol)
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