Distribution of excess tariffs on rice to begin next week

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Catherine Talavera – The Filipino Star

October 13, 2021 | 00h00

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) will begin distributing excess tariffs on rice collected over the past two years in cash assistance to rice farmers next week.

In a telephone interview, Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said distribution would officially begin on October 21 in Guagua, Pampanga.

Republic Law 11203 or the Rice Pricing Law (RTL), which creates the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), states that if annual tariff revenue from rice import exceeds 10 billion pesos Over the six-year implementation period of the law, the excess tariff revenue is assigned by Congress and included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) the following year to other purposes.

The excess customs duties collected in 2019 and 2020, amounting to 7.6 billion pesos, will be released in the form of cash assistance to rice farmers.

Under the RCEF Rice Grower Financial Assistance Program (RCEF-RFFA), eligible rice farmers cultivating two hectares or less will receive cash assistance of 5,000 pesos.

Cayanan said the cash assistance program would benefit around 1.5 million rice farmers across the country.

“We are aiming for the whole month of October until November, we hope to distribute everything,” Cayanan said in Filipino.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar recently released the implementation guidelines for the implementation of the RCEF-RFFA for this year.

According to the guidelines, rice farmers to benefit from the program must be registered in the Updated Registration System for Basic Sectors of Agriculture (RSBSA).

The cash assistance will be distributed through Government Financial Institutions (GFIs).

The guidelines state that IFMs can use various methods of distributing and paying RCEF-RFFA grants.

These include the intervention monitoring card (IMC) and credit on the account or electronic wallets maintained with financial institutions supervised by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

IFMs can also use conduits, especially rural financial institutions, cooperatives, licensed money transfer centers, ATMs run by other rural banks, and other conduits on which the DA and IFM can agree. .

Dar said the program aims to provide temporary assistance to eligible farmers throughout the years of RTL implementation.

As part of the implementation of the law, farmers have been affected by the drop in producer prices for palay or unhulled rice.

Figures from the Federation of Free Farmers showed palay prices were negotiating between 12 and 15 pesos per kilo last month, based on the initial survey of FFF chapters of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Mindoro Occidental, Negros Occidental. , Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Norte and South Cotabato. .

The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority also showed that producer prices for the palay averaged 16.94 pesos per kilo from January to June, down 2.8 percent from the same period. last year.

Figures previously presented by Cayanan showed that the average farm gate price for fresh or wet bread in all regions, from the second week of September, was P14.89 per kilo, with P9 being the minimum price. and P19 the kilo being the maximum.

Cayanan, however, pointed out that the average farm price of the dry palay is higher at P18.10 per kilo, P12 per kilo being the minimum price and P23 per kilo being the maximum price.

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