MANILA, Philippines — The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) claimed that farmers lost around P68 billion with the entry of cheap rice imports, more than eight times the P8.2 billion reported by Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
“I think they are playing around with numbers and providing a lot of misleading data to deflect criticisms against RTL (Rice Tariffication Law),” FFF national manager Raul Montemayor told The STAR.
“And why is he depending on PIDS (Philippine Institute for Development Studies)? The department should have its own monitoring and evaluation and that’s where he should get his statements,” Montemayor said.
However, the PIDS clarified that the P8.2 billion loss was only from April to September 2019.
FFF asked Dar to give the real basis for his figures as the farmers got all their data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“His data only show that farmers lost more than consumers gained, which validates our basic assertion that the first year implementation of RTL failed to provide what the proponents promised ,” Montemayor said.
According to the FFF study, average retail prices of regular milled rice declined by P2.61 per kilogram while prices for well-milled rice fell by P1.99 per kilo.
When multiplied by consumption volumes, this resulted in a gain for consumers of P34.16 billion in the form of lower prices of rice.
On the other hand, farmgate prices of palay (unhusked rice) declined by P3.62 per kilo and resulted in total losses to farmers of P68.18 billion, or double the gains for consumers.
Rice watch group Bantay Bigas said Dar’s statement is “inconsiderate and insensitive to the family of rice farmers who have suffered from bankruptcy, indebtedness, hunger and distress due to the damage of rice liberalization to their livelihoods.”
“I think they are playing around with numbers and providing a lot of misleading data to deflect criticisms against RTL (Rice Tariffication Law),” FFF national manager Raul Montemayor told The STAR.
“And why is he depending on PIDS (Philippine Institute for Development Studies)? The department should have its own monitoring and evaluation and that’s where he should get his statements,” Montemayor said.
However, the PIDS clarified that the P8.2 billion loss was only from April to September 2019.
FFF asked Dar to give the real basis for his figures as the farmers got all their data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“His data only show that farmers lost more than consumers gained, which validates our basic assertion that the first year implementation of RTL failed to provide what the proponents promised ,” Montemayor said.
According to the FFF study, average retail prices of regular milled rice declined by P2.61 per kilogram while prices for well-milled rice fell by P1.99 per kilo.
When multiplied by consumption volumes, this resulted in a gain for consumers of P34.16 billion in the form of lower prices of rice.
On the other hand, farmgate prices of palay (unhusked rice) declined by P3.62 per kilo and resulted in total losses to farmers of P68.18 billion, or double the gains for consumers.
Rice watch group Bantay Bigas said Dar’s statement is “inconsiderate and insensitive to the family of rice farmers who have suffered from bankruptcy, indebtedness, hunger and distress due to the damage of rice liberalization to their livelihoods.”
