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Farmers’ groups are opposing the plan to slash the duty on rice as
the staple will be moved from the Highly Sensitive List (HSL) to the
Inclusion List next year under the Asean Free Trade Area Common
Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) agreement.
In a public hearing at the Tariff Commission on
Tuesday, Jaime Tadeo, National Rice Farmers Council spokesperson,
said the government has “underinvested” in the agriculture
sector, thus stunting the industry’s growth.
He said the livelihood of about three million
local rice farmers would be injured once rice import liberalization
under AFTA-CEPT begins its full swing.
“How can we compete against liberalized rice
importation when rice from other Asean countries, such as Thailand
and Vietnam, are less expensive than locally produced rice?” Tadeo
said in Filipino.
In a position paper read during the hearing,
various farmers’ groups said they will not allow the free entry of
imported rice in the local market under AFTA-CEPT and that the
government should first strengthen the local rice industry before
imported ones should come in.
“Let’s talk about the entry of the imported
rice when the government has already fulfilled its promise of a rice
self-sufficiency in 2013,” the position paper read.
Farmers’ groups Kilos Kanayunan, National Rice
Farmers Council, Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan,
Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan,
Paragos-Pilipinas, Task Force Food Sovereignty and civil society
group Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) were signatories to the
position paper.
“Maybe we can tell our negotiating partners to
give us a chance for five more years to improve our domestic rice
self-sufficiency,” said Ronilo Beronio, Philippine Rice Research
Institute executive director.
Beronio said the government’s Fertilizer,
Irrigation, Extension, Loans, Dryers and Seeds program is expected
to make the Philippines rice self-sufficient by 2013.
Government data showed that the volume of rice
imports last year has increased by 626,989 metric tons, up 34.7
percent year-on-year. Vietnam and Thailand were the Philippines’
major rice suppliers, which contributed 68 percent and 30 percent,
respectively, to the country’s rice imports.
The prevailing duty on rice is 40 percent.
-- Ben Arnold O. de Vera
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