Farmers and advocates warn of the negative impacts of rice tariffication.
No more unli rice | Assessing the impact of tariffication on food security
Tags: Philippine rice industry
Rice price hikes seen with tariffication bill
Price increases are to be expected as the country’s staple food will be solely at the hands of the profit-oriented private sector.
Tariffication to worsen dependence on imported rice
While not a guarantee to lower prices in the long run, opening up the rice sector to unbridled imports leaves the country’s rice security at the mercy of an unpredictable and increasingly unreliable world market. This happens as 95 percent of Philippine rice imports come from just two countries whose own domestic production is either slowing down or declining. Globally, rice production has been steadily decelerating in the past four decades.
‘Rice tariffication detrimental to NFA, consumers’
“This situation may lead to chaos and further manipulation of the supply and price of the staple by unscrupulous traders.”