Rice NGO hits Yap for failing to curb rice price hike, incoherent food policy
March 17, 2008

“Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture should stop boasting of increased productivity while holding our staple food, hostage to volatile fluctuations in international market,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, lead convenor of Rice Watch and Action Network (R1).

Cantos called Yap “Mr. Press Release” for harping on increased agricultural output over the past year despite the extended dry spell and boasting of his Quick Turnaround program to increase rice production. “He is now in another barrage of media blitz espousing lower tariff for rice to address the alleged shortage instead of addressing the abnormal increase of prices of rice in the market,” Cantos added.

Yap earlier announced he will talk to Congress right after the holy week break to lower the tariff on imported rice and corn to increase the flow of these commodities into the country.

“Our agriculture officials are running the department with its head turning to imports to solve the alleged shortage of rice while his lieutenants fought tooth-and-nail for increased protection through Quantitative Restrictions for rice imports in the World Trade Organization,” said Cantos.

The country’s agriculture negotiators in the WTO in Geneva are now negotiating for increased protection for rice and other sensitive products under the Special Products and Special Safeguards Mechanism.

“For the information of Yap, tariff is not used to plug shortages that are deemed temporary unless he admits that the country will rely on imports to feed its people. He should ask his agriculture officials who are being paid to study the implications of trade policies like tariff on food security, livelihood security and rural development objectives of the country,” Cantos said.

According to Cantos, the government needs to get its act together as Ginintuang Masaganang Ani Rice Program Director Frisco Malabanan boasted of solving the rice shortage through hybrid rice. R1 earlier criticized the agriculture department for subsidizing the hybrid rice seeds of a single company, SL Agritech to encourage the farmers to use these seeds for planting with the promised potential of increase in harvest.

Cantos explained that Yap should investigate the abnormal increase in local prices of rice when the harvest season started last January and the lean months are usually in July to September. She said world price of rice is increasing which made Yap’s proposal all the more ridiculous.

“Yap should really start to learn the ropes of running an agriculture portfolio with a coherent food policy based on food self-sufficiency. We challenge him to sit down for an honest-to-goodness discussion on the rice master plan instead of resorting to knee-jerk reactions to save his face,” said Cantos.

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