Wazzup Pilipinas!?
The National Food Authority (NFA) is making an urgent appeal to local government units (LGUs) to accelerate the pullout of rice stocks to prevent warehouse congestion and enable the agency to purchase more palay from local farmers at fair prices. With rice prices still high and farmers struggling with low buying prices, this move is critical to maintaining food security and ensuring fair trade.
A Call for Immediate Action
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson stressed the importance of swift action, urging LGUs to move fast in withdrawing rice reserves:
“We appeal to LGUs to fast-track the pullout of rice reserves. This will open up space in our warehouses, allowing us to procure more palay and ensure that farmers aren’t at the mercy of traders pushing down prices.”
San Juan City has already started pulling out NFA rice stocks, while Navotas, Cotabato, and Camarines Sur are preparing to follow suit, with pending orders totaling over 120,000 sacks of rice. The Department of Agriculture’s Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) has also stepped in to facilitate the process, offering easier payment terms for LGUs to encourage swift transactions.
The Unresolved Crisis: Why Rice Prices Are Still High
Despite government interventions, rice prices remain stubbornly high, affecting millions of Filipinos. The crisis started in July 2023 when India banned non-basmati rice exports, triggering a global supply shock. This issue was further compounded by El Niño’s impact on local harvests in early 2024.
Even though India lifted its export ban in August 2024 and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. lowered rice import tariffs from 35% to 15%, prices have not returned to normal levels. This led the government to declare a food security emergency, allowing the NFA to release stocks to LGUs in an attempt to bring down prices.
Government Intervention: Lower Prices Coming?
To provide relief to consumers, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced a reduction in the maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) for imported rice.
🔹 New MSRP for imported rice: P49 per kilo (from P52 per kilo)
🔹 Effective Date: March 1, 2025
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the national average retail price of well-milled rice is currently P54.18 per kilo, which remains unaffordable for many households. The DA’s price cap aims to ease the burden on consumers while maintaining fair profit margins for rice traders.
Farmers Suffering as Traders Manipulate Palay Prices
While consumers deal with high rice prices, farmers face a different problem—low buying prices for their palay.
Reports show that some traders are purchasing palay for as low as P15 per kilo, a drastic undercut compared to the NFA’s official procurement price of P23 to P24 per kilo for clean and dry palay.
For a typical 4.1-ton-per-hectare rice farm, even a P1 per kilo drop translates to a P4,100 loss per hectare for farmers—causing severe financial distress.
Unfortunately, NFA’s ability to purchase more palay is limited due to fully stocked warehouses. For instance, in Mindoro, palay procurement has been hindered by lack of storage space. The NFA plans to build a new warehouse in Mindoro, but this will not be operational until next year—making it imperative for LGUs to speed up rice distribution now.
New Buffer Stock Requirements: Is the NFA Prepared?
The Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) requires the NFA to maintain a 15-day buffer stock to ensure food security in times of crisis. However, with storage space nearly full, the agency is struggling to meet even its 9-day buffer stock target.
Rice Buffer Stock Targets for 2025:
✔ Required for 15-day buffer: 880,000 metric tons of palay
✔ Current procurement target: 545,000 metric tons (only 9 days’ worth)
With the summer harvest approaching, it’s a race against time to clear warehouses and secure enough palay for the country's buffer stock.
Philippine Rice Imports Delayed: What Does This Mean for Consumers?
Adding to the supply concerns, recent reports indicate that Philippine rice buyers have delayed the importation of 350,000 tons of Vietnamese rice due to:
🔹 Currency fluctuations
🔹 Tighter global supply chains
🔹 Uncertainty in pricing negotiations
These import delays could further impact local rice prices, making it even more critical for the NFA to continue its local palay procurement efforts to stabilize the market. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is closely monitoring inflation, hinting at a "measured approach" to monetary policy adjustments to prevent further spikes in food prices. (Reuters)
The Way Forward: A Collective Effort Needed
With storage facilities nearly full, rice prices still high, and farmers struggling to sell their harvests at fair prices, the role of LGUs has never been more critical.
The government has already taken several key steps:
✅ Lowering rice import tariffs
✅ Reducing the MSRP for imported rice
✅ Encouraging LGUs to expedite rice pullouts
✅ Planning new storage facilities for long-term solutions
Now, LGUs must step up to:
📌 Accelerate the distribution of NFA rice stocks
📌 Ensure affordable rice reaches the people who need it most
📌 Help NFA free up storage space to buy more palay at fair prices
With the summer harvest season fast approaching, the time to act is NOW.
Will the LGUs respond to this urgent call? The fate of millions of farmers and consumers depends on it.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
