WALANG problema kay Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol ang napaulat na karagdagang rice imports na kinokonsidera ng National Food Authority (NFA) upang palakasin ang nauubos na stockpile nito.
Sa katunayan, sinabi ni Piñol na hinihikayat pa niya ang NFA at ang mga pribadong trader na mag-angkat ng bigas hanggang gusto nila ngayong taon dahil ang global rice market supply ay inaasahang hihigpit dahil sa malaking pangangailangan ng Beijing.
“I have no problem with that. If they (NFA) want to import [more], go ahead,” wika ni Piñol.
“My formula is that let the private sector import rice as much as they want this year and let it flood the market. And the NFA should procure the palay and save it for next year because you can store it,” dagdag pa niya.
Napaulat na kinokonsidera ng NFA na bumili ng 300,000 hanggang 500,000 metric tons (MT) ng bigas sa ibang bansa bilang karagdagan sa 500,000 MT na kasalukuyang inaangkat nito.
Paliwanag ng agriculture chief, ang global rice market supply ngayong 2018 ay tinatayang magiging mahirap dahil inaasahang aangkat ang Beijing ng limang porsiyento ng national rice requirement nito, na 15 MMT. Dahil dito, ani Piñol, ay wala nang mabibiling bigas ang Pilipinas sa ibang bansa.
“In the last IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) board meeting, it was revealed that next year, China may import 5 percent of its national requirement, and that is about 15 million metric tons,” sabi ni Piñol, ex-officio member ng board of trustees ng IRRI.
“That’s why I have been telling our farmers to plant more because the rice supply next year would be tighter. This is a result of unfavorable production by China, thus, they will purchase the available supply in the world market,” dagdag pa niya.
Sa sitwasyong ito ng global rice market, sinabi ni Piñol na kumpiyansa siya na ang pag-aalis sa quantitative restriction (QR) sa rice ay hindi makaaapekto sa Filipino farmers.
“People have been saying that the lifting of the quota on imported rice will hurt the Filipino farmers, but not anymore,” aniya.
“There is not much rice to talk about in the world market. The annual volume of rice available is only about 39 million metric tons (MMT), and 38 million metric tons of that is already committed. If there is a country that would need to import additional supply then it could only access about 1 million [metric ton],” anang kalihim. JASPER ARCALAS
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