Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman (Facebook)
A subsidy for farmers should be provided alongside the price ceiling on rice that has been ordered by Malacañang.
This suggestion came from Liberal Party (LP) President Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman.
In a statement Saturday, Sept. 2, the self-styled independent minority solon in the House of Representatives said he agrees with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s decision to impose a price cap on the staple grain.
"I essentially agree with the President’s imposition of a price ceiling for regular milled rice at P41/kilo and well-milled rice at P45/kilo, but clarification should be made on the price cap of imported rice, unless it would fall under the subject rice varieties," he said.
Lagman said that there should be a "subsidy to farmers to maintain a viable farm gate price of palay". Palay is unhusked rice.
"The subsidy is geared towards reducing the cost of production, from pre-planting, planting, harvesting, milling, transport, and trading of palay," he said.
Farm gate prices are defined as the prices received by farmers for the sale of their crops at the location of farm. The higher these prices, the more they get paid for their produce.
The Bicolano also called for the full implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under the Rice Tariffication Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 11203.
The RCEF is meant to improve the competitiveness of lccal rice farmers and increase their income through an annual appropriation of P10 billion.
Meanwhile, Lagman said the government's campaign against rice smuggling and cartelization "must be fully intensified with the immediate apprehension, prosecution, and conviction, once warranted, against malefactors".
He also called for "government-to-government negotiations for the importation of rice...in order to get the lowest cost of importation by authorized private importers".
Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/2/lagman-suggests-farmers-subsidy-alongside-rice-price-cap)
0 Comments