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By Ira Karen Apanay, Senior
Reporter
The country’s rice supply for
the lean months from July to September is already secure, the
Agriculture secretary said, as he reported that Vietnam has agreed
to sell 600,000 metric tons of the grain.
Manila signed a contract to buy
the cereal from Hanoi, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said
Wednesday without giving any details on the contract price.
The imports will bring the
country’s rice import volume so far this year to 2.3 million tons,
exceeding an import quota of 2.1 million tons. The deal stems from
negotiations that began last Friday between the two countries.
In April, Vietnam had committed
to supply up to 1.5 million tons of rice to the Philippines.
Referring to the Vietnam rice,
Yap said, “This purchase was made in keeping with our plans to go
back to the market to further augment our buffer stocks when the
price and other conditions are suitable for us.”
“In this instance, we have been
able to secure a good deal with Vietnam and saw this as a good
opportunity to expand our stockpile, especially in light of the
recent uptick in global rice prices,” he added.
The import deal was sealed during
a meeting of the Cabinet-level interagency committee on rice
procurement, which is headed by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter
Favila. Yap and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves are members of the
committee.
Yap said the government is
committed to ensuring the nation’s food security not only by
maintaining adequate supplies, but also by providing access to food
at affordable prices and ensuring fair market practices.
“Our immediate focus continues
to be on enhancing the distribution of rice, stabilizing food
prices, and cracking down on rice cheats,” he added.
Plus, government “will continue
to provide NFA [National Food Authority] rice at subsidized prices
to those members of our society who are most vulnerable, work with
LGUs [local government units], faith-based organizations, and others
to carry out targeted distribution of NFA rice, and prosecute rice
hoarders,” Yap said.
“We also recognize that the new
economics of global food security now makes it imperative that we
control our own destiny in terms of rice. And we are working with
all levels of government in our country—multilateral agencies and
our other development partners, and with the private sector—to
achieve a rice self-sufficiency level of at least 98 percent by
2010, so we don’t have to rely on expensive imports to meet our
country’s needs for this important commodity,” the secretary
explained.
Also present as private-sector
observers during the meeting with the Cabinet secretaries were
lawyer Paterno Menzon of the Procurement Transparency Group and Eric
Alvia of the Makati Business Club.
--With AFP
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