While the country’s palay output went up during the second quarter of this year, rice farmers are disappointed that the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) the tariff collected from rice imports and is supposed to help lower the production cost of Filipino rice farmers did not necessarily help the production of the main staple grow in the last months.
While the country’s palay output went up during the second quarter of this year, rice farmers are disappointed that the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) the tariff collected from rice imports and is supposed to help lower the production cost of Filipino rice farmers did not necessarily help the production of the main staple grow in the last months.
Jaime Tadeo, representative of PARAGOs Pilipinas, said in a statement that there was high expectations for palay output to rebound and improve significantly with the implementation of RCEF, which is one of the crucial components of Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
To recall, RTL, which allowed the unimpeded entry of cheaper imported rice into the country starting March last year, required the government to provide free seeds and mechanization to rice farmers using RCEF in order to bring down their production cost and in turn be able to compete with rice imports.
See full article at Manila Bulletin
