BY VANNE ELAINE P. TERRAZOLA
Senator Cynthia Villar on Thursday expressed grave concerns over the reported involvement of the farmers’ cooperatives as well as irrigation associations in the importation of a significant volume of rice into the country.
This, as the Senate committee on agriculture conducted a hearing on the resolution seeking to improve the government procedures for rice importation amid claims that rice traders and importers are using cooperatives to skirt the Rice Tariffication Law.
In opening the inquiry, Villar, citing her research, said that farmers’ cooperatives and irrigation associations imported 1.017 million metric tons (MT) of rice last year that led to the country being tagged as the world’s biggest rice importer.
For 2020, she said latest data showed that farmer cooperatives/associations have so far imported 632,431.31 MT.
What was surprising was that Villar found that most importers of rice came from top rice-producing provinces such as Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Mindoro Occidental.
According to Villar, these provinces are receiving full support from government in terms of agricultural inputs and training to make their rice farmers competitive.
Forty-three of these farmer’s cooperatives were from Bulacan, 20 were from Mindoro Occidental, 17 from Tarlac, and another 17 from Nueva Ecija, 12 were from Pangasinan; and 10 from Ilocos Norte and 10 also from Pampanga.
There were 29 farmers’ coop in the top 50 companies which imported rice in 2019. In 2020, 18 out of the top 50 rice importers were farmers’ coops.
According to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an agency attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and in charge of issuing import clearances for rice, there are 507 importers and 156 cooperatives and associations registered with them as of October 9, 2020.
“The most pressing question now is, are these farmers’ cooperatives/associations actually capable by itself to import such large number of rice into the country, or is there a dummy arrangement behind the scenes?” Villar asked.
