Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar in his message enthused this, referring to the outcomes of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) during its First Year Anniversary celebration at the Urdaneta City Cultural Sports Center in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan on March 5, 2020 with around 2,500 farmers and various agri-fishery stakeholders in attendance.

RTL is a new policy signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 14, 2019 which amends the two-decade-old Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996 and replaces the quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariff. Set with twin goals of providing available and affordable foods for the Filipinos while strengthening the Filipino farmers to make them more competitive with the neighboring Asian countries, the RTL’s brainchild is Senate Committee Chair on Agriculture, Cynthia Villar.

Sec. William Dar, in his message mentioned in a capsule the benefits and outcomes of the RTL a year after it was implemented.

Among the outcomes that the RTL has made is the promotion of free-trade and fair competition in the market as there was an influx of different kinds of rice in the market with different prices ranging from as low as P27 to as high as P36 a kilo, giving more options for the consumers to choose the variety that they prefer.

Among the benefits that the RTL has provided to the Philippine economy according to Sec. Dar is the non-contribution of rice commodity in the high inflation rate and the increasing inventory of rice supply, securing the country for its demand for rice for about 4-5 months that would coincide with the harvest season this months of March-April.

Giving updates as to how the RTL through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) was used to liberalize rice farmers in their rice production activities, Sec. Dar also mentioned how the P10B funds under RCEF shall be utilized for the next 5 years, where excess of the P10B tariff collected shall be used to fund for crop insurance and land titling.

“Gusto naming kayong maging competitive sa ibat-ibang areas. Pababain natin ang cost of production para maging competitive kayo dahil gusto namin na kayo ay maging panalo,” Sec. Dar said.

Contrary to the previous claims of the detractors of RTL that the country have lose P68B, Sec. Dar explained that farmers have not lose anything since the government have provided the necessary assistance through the provision of SURE-AID and Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) to the farmers, not to mention the free seeds, trainings and farm machineries to be distributed this March.

Sharing the initiatives made by the National Food Authority (NFA) which enhances, accelerates and levels-up its buying strategy on palay, as well as the Local Government Units and the big cooperatives who were able to partner in the LBPs loan program intended to purchase palay from the farmers, Sec. Dar also shared his plans of partnering with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWDs) in its cash assistance program to the 4P beneficiaries by the provision of rice subsidy instead, in tandem with the NFA.

Making all these plans possible, Sec. Dar vowed to improve and upgrade the RSBSA or the Registry of Basic Sectors in Agriculture’s list from time to time to ensure the veracity and validity of the list of farmers who would be provided with agri-fishery interventions.

Seeing the benefit of crop diversification as another strategy to prepare farmers from being competitive, Sec. Dar mentioned the release of P1-3B fund to start helping rice farmers into venturing high value crops production.

He also called on the farmers’ cooperative and association members to consolidate and team up together to strengthen and increase their leverage especially in coordinating with the DA and its attached agencies so that they could demand the necessary services and interventions they would need to improve their farming activities.

Of the 147 rice-producing municipalities in the country, with Pangasinan as a major producing province, Sec. Dar revealed that around P1.9B shall be provided to the province from the DA that forms part the P492 million from RCEF, P436 million from the RFFA and P965 million for centralized operations.

Meanwhile, as part of the first year anniversary celebration, Sec. Dar also led the National Rice Harvest conducted in Brgy. Lelemaan, Manaoag, Pangasinan which showcased the various technologies in rice production and harvesting using the mechanized farming.

With the theme, “Sa Rice Tariffication Law, lahat tayo panalo,” the first year anniversary of RTL was also graced by no less than Senator Cynthia Villar who vowed to support for the renewal of the law once it lapse on its target date of 6 year implementation.###