Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Food Authority assures no rice shortage in NegOcc By Karl G. Ombion
THE National Food Authority in Negros Occidental has stressed that rice shortage is unlikely to happen in the province because it has enough rice stocks for public consumption.
But some sectors quickly doubted the NFA's assurance, claiming "the bigger stocks are in the hands of big rice and food traders who can manipulate the supply and demand anytime they want."
NFA Provincial Manager Marianito Bejemino said last week the province has a total rice inventory of 1.4 million bags to last for the next 61 days.
Bejemino said the local NFA has 169,855 bags of rice stored in the different warehouses in the province, while for the same period last year the NFA only had 118,044 bags.
"This inventory, which includes commercial, household and NFA stocks, is still higher compared to last year, registered at 1.2 million bags," he added.
Bejemino boasted of the rice stocks as the agency expects another 120,000 bags of Vietnam rice to arrive first week of April.
He also said it has already mobilized NFA monitoring teams in the province to track rice prices and rice sales in the market.
Alejandro Deoma, provincial coordinator of the partylist Bayan Muna, however doubted NFA claims, saying "it is not only true that there is no rice shortage, but that the rice prices will soar soon given the continued monopoly of big rice and food traders of bigger stocks and market."
Deoma said NFA has admitted it has only 169,855 bags of rice under its direct control and it is clearly not enough. "It (NFA) makes it appear sufficient because of the continued rice importation, including the 120,000 bags coming in this April."
Deoma also said "assuming that the data of NFA that the province consume 18,000 to 20,000 bags a day is correct, it means that its current stocks is only good till the end of the month."
"What the NFA did not clearly admit is that the bigger chunk of its 1.4 million rice inventory, estimated at 1 million bags, are actually under the direct control of big rice and food traders," Deoma added.
"That means that beginning April, the NFA and the public will be buying rice from these traders whom we know are profit-oriented," he stressed.
If this scenario happens, Deoma added the prices of rice would likely soar to as high as P30 a kilo for low quality rice and as much as P45 a kilo for well-milled rice.
Deoma also stressed that the scenario of rice shortage in the province and in the country is not surprising because it is just the cumulative effect of the government's pursuance of liberalization of the country's agriculture which has already resulted to conversion of more agricultural lands to non-agricultural purposes, and dislocation of more rice farmers and other small agricultural producers.
"Since we entered the World Trade Organization, we have become a top rice importer than what we used to be in the 60s and 70s as Asia's top rice exporter," Deoma said.
He added the government's declining support for agriculture has greatly affected agricultural production and productivity.
Deoma cited the case of the yearly closure of the Bago River Irrigation System by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) for rehabilitation. "They have been doing that yearly, spending millions of foreign funds, yet the effects of their rehabilitation and improvement are hardly felt; worse, the farmers are paying more for irrigation water every after the closure, or almost every year."
This trend, Deoma stressed, will only worsen the state of food insecurity in the country.
Meanwhile, Bejemino appealed to all NFA-accredited outlets such as the Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke, Tindahan Natin Outlet, and the Bigasan sa Parokya to strictly follow the NFA rice price of P18.25 a kilo.
Bejemino also encouraged the public to report to NFA cases of rice diversion, rebagging and overpricing.
