A militant legislator on Saturday urged the National Food Authority to raise its buying price for palay to P20 per kilo from the present P18 in drought-stricken areas.
“We call on the government to control the farmgate price of palay in calamity areas, to protect the farmers from profiteering and exploitation of traders,” Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said.
Casilao said the extended dry spell has resulted in the destruction of at least P8 billion worth of crops.
He lamented that farmers have suffered enough from the impact of the dry spell and underpricing by private traders of palay harvests on calamity areas.
“The government has reported dwindling farmgate price across the country falling as P18.87 per kilo this April, from P20.55 last year. Farmers reported depressed farmgate prices such as in Nueva Ecija P13 to P14 per kilo, Isabela at P16, Laguna at P14 to 15, and South Cotabato at P14 per kilo,” Casilao said.
Forty-three local government units have already declared a state of calamity because of the dry spell.
“The government should also enforce control of the retail price of rice in calamity-stricken areas, to ease the impact of the loss of livelihood of farmers and other sectors relying on agriculture,” Casilao added.
He said the retail price of rice should be at most P38 per kilo if based on the average farmgate price.
“Why are we finding rice being sold at P40 and higher? Palay prices are already falling down, on top of the impact of the drought, and the government has yet to decisively act on the prices,” he said.