Agriculture

By Rose de la Cruz With  a record importation of 4.78 million metric tons of rice last year, it would not be surprising that P34 -billion tariff was collected from the  legitimate arrivals of the grains.  The Bureau of Customs said total rice tariff collected in 2024 rose by 13.11 percent year-on-year to P34 billion from just P30 billion in …

Climate  change and declining productivity due to high production costs and the impact of smuggling of agricultural products made farming and fishing jobs the top job decliners, local economists said. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that while unemployment and underemployment improved, the number of employed Filipinos declined leading to joblessness in farming and fishing subsectors. The decline in jobs …

Ateneo  de Manila University researchers have discovered that milkfish (bangus) skin– a product of aquaculture– could provide a low-cost option  for treating patients with major burns and other serious injuries.  With bangus being widely farmed across the country, the team, led by Janice Alano Ragaza and Bianca Patrice Go from the Ateneo Department of Biology’s Aquatic and Fisheries Resources Laboratory, …

Reacting to  the recent ruling by the Supreme Court allowing commercial fishers unrestricted access to municipal fishing grounds,  Bicol Saro Rep. Brin Yamsuan is now discussing with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources a possible law to protect the welfare of fishermen. Yamsuan, who chairs the House Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources, called the meeting with BFAR  in …

By Rose de la Cruz With a record importation of 4.78 million metric tons of rice last year, it would not be surprising at all, that P34 -billion tariff was collected from the legal and legit arrivals of the grains. But how about the smuggled volumes, they could even more than the recorded imports, for which tariff denied our country …

Beyond EllipticalBy Rose Marie de la Cruz Because of the continued disability of the National Food Authority to import rice and have control over the market and to support the Department of Agriculture’s cheap rice program– which it implements in its Kadiwa ng Pangulo (KNP) centers at P40 per kg.– the DA is now pleading with importers to ship in …

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is expanding its copra meal project to Western Visayas to provide a cheaper protein source alternative for animal feeds in the region. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said he ordered the expansion of the Protein-Enriched Copra Meal (PECM) commercialization project to the region to boost local livestock production. He said this development is expected …

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will organize a youth hub in the Philippines in 2025 to engage young people in agriculture. FAO Philippines’ representative Lionel Dabbadie said part of the initiatives that FAO works globally include agrifood systems, which are related to innovations, indigenous peoples, and the youth. “We are at the stage of organizing …

The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund under Republic Act 12078 has been extended to 2031 from tariffs of imported rice and the annual budget was raised from P10 to P30 billion supposedly to fund the modernization of the rice industry.  RA12078 was signed by President Marcos Jr. on December 9. RCEF programs include: seed distribution (of inbred and hybrid rice seeds); …

By Rose de la Cruz Beginning with imported rice, the departments of agriculture and trade and industry are studying setting a maximum suggested retail price (MSRP) or price caps that would strike a balance between the cost of landing imported rice here and the interests of consumers. The DA said on Wednesday from rice, it would also study possible MSRP’s …