DA acts to stop smuggle of rice, other farm goods

The decision of the Depart­ment of Agriculture (DA) to cancel all government import permits on farm products, except for rice, and to issue new permits only through the office of the Agriculture secretary will do a lot to curb the smuggling of agricultur­al commodities that has cost the government close to P80 billion in lost revenues in the last five years.

The Samahang Indus­triya sa Agrikultura (Sinag), which welcomed the deci­sion of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, said smug­gling continues to flourish “because those who have benefitted from it have nev­er been punished and those who allow it to prosper are not punished either, despite the enactment of new laws to combat smuggling of ag­ricultural products.”

But while welcom­ing Piñol’s initiative, Sinag Chairman Rosendo So said, “We are just hoping that the re-issuance of new im­port permits would not be a new source of corruption for some people.”

Piñol said the new policy aims to stop the “recycling” of import permits and the “misdeclaration” of agricul­ture products by unscrupu­lous individuals. He said rice importers will have to apply for a permit to import direct­ly at his office.

Sinag cited data from its research revealing that close to P200 billion in agricultur­al goods were smuggled into the country in the last five years.

It also showed that rice, with a market value of P94 billion, is the single biggest agricultural commodity be­ing smuggled into the coun­try, followed by pork at P40 billion, then sugar at close to P25 billion.

Other commodities monitored by Sinag includ­ed chicken, garlic, onion and carrots.

According to the group, a market value of P200 billion in smuggled goods translates to around P60 billion to P80 billion in lost revenues for the government since these agricultural commodities are supposed to be protected and levied a higher tariff of 30 percent to 40 percent.

Piñol assured the public there would be no disruption in the supply of food prod­ucts, especially on meat and chicken during the Christmas season, as the approval of an import permit application would be done within the day.

“I will assign a technical working group (TWG) even on weekends at the Office of the Secretary to review and validate the im­port permit applications,” Piñol said.

Sinag Chairman So said: “Several alerts were already issued, volumes of agricultural products were also confiscated in the past weeks and months, but no case was ever filed against the smugglers. Up to now, the identities of the owners of these smuggled commodities are still unknown.

The farm group said the review of im­port permits should start with the accredi­tation process for importers.

Sinag has lobbied to let the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) review importers applying for accreditation, since the BIR has the data on sales and equity of import­ers that have operated for at least two years.

“Only those with legitimate financial standing in the last two years, at the least, should be accredited as importer. Smug­glers are not legitimate importers,” it said.

Sinag also urged the DA to publicly list all accredited importers and their Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) papers, annual financial/income report for the past three years “so we can weed out spurious imports.”

The Inward Foreign Manifest (IFM) and Import-entry declaration should be given to the DA, the BIR, and concerned stakeholders at least two days before a ship­ment arrives, so there is ample time to alert the Bureau of Customs (BOC) of suspi­cious shipments, the group added.

“Smuggling exposes the country to unsafe and high-risk agriculture and food products, as smuggled goods do not pass quarantine and food-safety inspection,” the group said.

“The common fight against smug­gling is to prevent the further erosion of our farmers’ livelihoods. The smuggling of agricultural products endangers the survival of the agriculture industry which is the very fiber of our society,” it added.

Piñol projected a 4-percent growth for the agriculture sector in the fourth quarter. “For the last quarter… I expect to hit 4 percent toward the end (of the year).”

He said growth could be attributed to the crops subsector and the opening of market opportunities by China as a result of the recent visit to Beijing of President Duterte.

Pinol, however, said agri growth per­formance for 2016 may only “break even” despite positive growth in the third and fourth quarters.

“The growth could not overcome the 7-percent (contraction) recorded in the 1st two quarters of the year. I think it will be break even for 2016,” he said.

But Piñol is optimistic that agriculture growth will have a “robust” performance next year, barring strong typhoons, due to greater demand for fish products from China.

He said the Philippines is likely to import 500,000 tons of rice in 2017 due to the projected 1.8 million metric tons deficit in the supply.

The National Food Authority (NFA) has procured 250,000 tons from Vietnam and Thailand the year.

In the third quarter, the agriculture sector grew 2.98 percent, driven by higher output in the crops, livestock and poultry subsectors.

At current prices, the gross value of agricultural production amounted to P360.9 billion, higher by 7.33 percent than last year.

From January to September, agri­cultural output fell by 1.53 percent as a result of the lingering effects of the dry spell that reduced farm output in the sec­ond quarter.

The crops subsector, which account­ed for 45.63 percent of total agricultural output, grew by 5.24 percent in the third quarter of 2016. The production of palay and corn rose by 16.35 percent and 10.61 percent, respectively.

Improvements in production were also recorded for pineapple, tobacco, ab­aca, mongo, cassava, tomato, cabbage and eggplant.

At current prices, the subsector grossed P196.9 billion or 13.78 percent more than the previous year’s gross re­ceipts.

The livestock subsector, which shared 18.61 percent in the total agricul­tural output, came up with a 3.89-percent growth during the quarter.

Hog, the major contributor to the subsector’s production, posted a 4.55-percent increase.

The poultry subsector, which has a 17.15-percent share in the total agri­cultural output, posted a 2.43-percent growth in July to September.

The fisheries subsector contracted by 2.53 percent in the third quarter of 2016. It contributed 18.61 percent in the total agricultural output.

On the average, prices received by farmers went up by 4.22 percent in the third quarter of 2016. LUIS LEONCIO