Rice prices are nearing P62/kg now

I BEG to disagree with the forecast of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. about rice retail prices reaching P62 per kilogram by September.

In my last trip to the public markets in the third week of April, I saw prices ranging from P55 to P60 with some reaching as high as P64/kg even. So the forecast of prices hitting P62/kg is nearing, if not here yet.

I was so shocked discovering that the rice I used to buy for P45 per kilo in late February and late March shot up to P52 to P54 per kilogram in two months– even with the P50 (on the total price) senior citizen discount that I used to enjoy from the same retailer in that public market. 

Other varieties were even pricier, nearing the P60 per kilo level– that was back then, so how much more when September comes.

Understandably, the price surges are due to the ongoing war in Iran (by the US-back Israel) with the closure of the Hormuz Strait. 

But prices were rising ceaselessly since 2023– and fortunately for the Department of Agriculture they had a Ukraine war to blame instead of their inefficiency and vague policies that tended to favor select inputs suppliers and importers of course, who benefitted from the forecasts of supply and demand of the DA.

Then the DA also made rice policies very vague by leaving the bidding process completely to the discretion of regional, provincial and municipal directors and agriculturists– the latter being dictated by the mayors or local CEOs– and leaving the farmers to the miserable handling of these players. 

Most often these agriculturists and regional directors already have their “suki” suppliers, who in fake biddings, would be getting the large chunk of inputs requirements– of course may parte sila doon.

I cannot also fathom why the DA keeps harping and pushing the urea and ammonium phosphate fertilizers which are all imported– to the detriment of local manufacturers and suppliers of organic, biofertilizers, soil ameliorants and even compost and African worms. 

The DA should be leaving the decision-making to the farmers on their choice of pataba– depending on their cultural farm practices and affordability. 

Instead the DA, through the RFO and MAOs would push a complete program to the farmers (sometimes with even a credit facility or mechanization) to ensure that they lap it up. But in the end the farmers end up discouraged and disoriented why outcomes never matched their expectations. 

The DA warned that consumers could face significantly higher rice prices by the September harvest season if farmers do not adopt alternative inputs and move away from conventional farming practices, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has warned, DZRH News reported. In the first place, it is the DA that keeps pushing its own agenda to the farmers. 

Laurel told a hearing of the Senate Committee on Proactive Response and Oversight for Timely and Effective Crisis Strategy (PROTECT)— there goes DA’s penchance for acronyms– citing inflationary pressures from the ongoing global oil crisis and rising farm input costs as the primary drivers.

“If farmers continued using conventional inputs such as urea fertiliizer without shifting to alternatives being promoted by the DA, retail rice prices could reach 62 per kilogram,” he warned. (Why blame the farmers, it is your field men that are pushing these products and inputs to them).

He noted that average rice prices had already climbed from around 42 per kg before the Middle East conflict to approximately 50 per kg at present. (At least he talks of a semblance of reality).

The DA attributed much of the cost pressure to a sharp rise in fertilizer prices. Urea, a key input for rice cultivation, has reportedly surged from around 1,600 per sack to as high as 3,000, adding considerably to production costs for farmers. 

Laurel also said many growers remain reluctant to transition to organic or alternative fertilizers that the DA has been recommending to help contain costs.

I know of a local biofertilizer manufacturer in Laguna, whose plant capacity for this vital nitrogen fixing soil rejuvenator can handle the entire country’s requirement and still even export to our neighbors.

The DA is pushing instead some backyard biofertilizer producers who can’t meet the demands of their immediate neighbors and sell other products that claim to be field tested with bright results. In the end, farmers who try their products end up dismayed and disillusioned.

To cushion the potential impact on consumers, the DA is preparing several palliatives way ahead of the next harvest such as the proposed mixing of 30 per cent imported rice with 70 percent local rice to manage supply. 

It is also thinking of resurrecting the rice-corn mix to offer a more affordable staple alternative to (especially poor) households.

The DA said both measures are aimed at preventing further price shocks while managing supply pressures in the months leading up to the September harvest.