By Lifting Rice Quota, ‘Arroyo Has Gone Mad’

“The President has gone mad. Instead of instituting measures to develop self-sufficiency in rice production, she has increased the country’s reliance on food imports by lifting the quantitative restrictions on rice imports,” fumed National Rice Farmers Council Chair Jimmy ‘Ka Jimm’ Tadeo.

Tadeo explained that flooding the market with imported rice could lower the price of rice but it could also depress farm gate prices especially if the imports arrive during harvest time. In effect, the President has imposed a disincentive to rice producers. In fact, imports only favor the rice traders, and only serve to strengthen their monopoly.

Tadeo hoped that the lifting of the QR was a temporary measure. He explained that the QR was a measure to protect the small rice farmers from the adverse impact of trade liberalization and to help them remain competitive. In fact, the small rice farmers have been struggling hard for the maintenance of the rice QRs and successfully pressured the Philippine negotiators to the WTO to push for the retention of the QRs. The lifting of the QRs would negate this hard won gain and reverse the policy on rice.

Tadeo said government should instead pour investments into irrigation, farm-to-market roads, and support services that would encourage rice production and move the country towards rice self-sufficiency.

“Currently, the Philippines ranks as the second highest rice importer in the world. If the planned 2.2 million metric tons of imports pushes through, the country will become the world’s largest importer of rice. In a situation where the global trade in rice is narrowing, from 7 percent to only 4 percent of total available rice for trading, at this point in time, reliance on imports is a disastrous recipe,” explained Centro Saka’s Omi Royandoyan.

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