Duterte backtracks on rice import ban
Credit to Author: Eireene Jairee Gomez| Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:15:23 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has decided not to implement his recent order suspending the importation of rice after Agriculture Secretary William Dar gave assurances that measures are in place to assist local farmers, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Dar, in a meeting with the President on Wednesday night, explained the various solutions put in place by the DA to assist rice farmers affected by the continued drop in palay (unmilled rice) prices as a result of the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the “Rice Tariffication Law.”
“We discussed the guidelines. We understand that the President is really looking at all angles and this is the directive — strictly implementing the guidelines that we have elevated in regard to the issuance of SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) import clearance,” the DA chief said.
On Tuesday, Duterte said the country would stop the importation of rice so that the government would give priority to purchasing the produce of local farmers.
Dar said the government would arrest the surge in imports by adopting stricter measures on the issuance of SPS import clearances.
“[The] considerations during the meeting with the President [was] stricter implementation,” he said.
The measure will put in place food safety controls for milled rice that can be used to prevent or eliminate hazards or reduce them to an acceptable level.
“[N]’ung wala tayong guidelines for stricter implementation, ang average [imports] ng March to September was 250,000 [metric tons], (When we had no guidelines, our average imports from March to September was 250,000 MT) more or less. When that was done, the arrivals in October were only 85,000 MT,” Dar explained.
So far, about 3,000 SPS import clearances have been awarded to rice traders, but only 60 percent of those were used, said Gerard Glenn Panganiban, DA’s Bureau of Plant and Industry assistant director for regulations,
But the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), one of the strongest lobby groups in the country’s rice sector, warned the DA that arbitrarily imposing SPS measures to limit imports could expose the country to disputes or challenges in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“SPS measures are intended to protect the country from pests, diseases and food contamination. They must be science-based and must be applied regularly and uniformly, and cannot be used as trade barriers,” he said.
“You cannot tighten SPS measures at harvest time and then loosen them during lean months without having a scientific basis. Besides, once the importers learn how to comply with the new SPS rules, there will be no way to stop them from resuming their imports,” Montemayor added.
Under the WTO rules and RA 8800 or the “Safeguard Measures Act,” an additional tariff can be imposed on imported rice if there is a surge in imports, which could cause injury to local rice farmers.
Aside from strictly implementing the issuance of SPS import clearances, the DA had also allocated P3 billion for its unconditional cash transfer program, benefitting 600,000 farmers tilling one hectare of rice land.
Dar said Duterte also ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) to increase the country’s emergency buffer stock from 15 to 30 days by buying more palay from farmers. The NFA will accelerate the turnover of its inventory by buying more palay and selling more regular milled rice, at an average of 20,000 50-kilo bags or more of rice per day.
At the end of 2019, local palay production was projected to reach 18.48 million MT, equivalent to 12.09 million MT of milled rice, Dar said.