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PRESS RELEASE
Civil society group, farmers opposed rice import liberalization under AFTA-CEPT
Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) and farmers belonging to different organizations opposed the reduction of the tariff rate of rice as the government prepares to phase in the country’s staple from the Highly Sensitive List (HSL) to the Inclusion List (IL) in the Asean Free Trade Area Preferential Tariff Scheme or AFTA-CEPT in 2010.
In a hearing of the Tariff Commission today, the groups proposed for a moratorium of the inclusion of rice pending the successful implementation of the government’s FIELDS program that was touted to bring the country to rice self-sufficiency by 2013.
“The government should establish a strong and competitive rice industry before opening up the local market to competing rice from the ASEAN countries. Let’s talk about the inclusion of rice in the AFTA-CEPT after the government has successfully achieved its rice self-sufficiency target by 2013,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, R1 lead convenor.
Meanwhile, farmer leader Jaime Tadeo asked the Department of Agriculture to reveal the results of the public consultations held in the past months.
“Why are we talking about the reduction of tariff rates of rice here? The position of the rice farmers in the DA’s consultations was clear. We opposed the inclusion of the rice in the AFTA-CEPT,” said Tadeo.
R1 criticized the liberalized importation of rice as detrimental to the country’s vision of self-sufficiency as it will also be injurious to the livelihood of the local rice farmers.
“How can we compete against unabated rice importation when prices from other Asean countries are traditionally cheaper than rice produced locally?” lamented Tadeo.
R1’s studies found that rice from Vietnam and Thailand are much cheaper than the prices of rice from the Philippines. In 2003, the average price of rice from Vietnam was P7.38 per kilo, P8.09 in Thailand while the average price of rice in the Philippines was P18.30 per kilo. This very wide gap in prices continued until 2007 when the price of rice from Vietnam was P13.57 per kilo and Thailand’s price was P14.08. The price of rice in the Philippines on the same year hit P22.59 per kilo.
The gaps in prices closed in only last year at the height of the rice crisis. The price of rice per kilo in the Philippines was P29.81, P27.26 per kilo in Vietnam and P28.50 per kilo in Thailand. The prices have not gone down and are not expected to get better in the light of the global crisis.
According to Cantos, this situation placed the government’s decision to rely on imported rice for the country’s staple food even more unacceptable at this point.
“Our officials at the DA told us we really need to include rice in AFTA to allow us to get concessions and gains from our export products. Our challenge to them, what other gains and concessions could be more significant than rice? Will they be willing to trade these supposed gains with the livelihood and welfare of the three million rice farmers and their families?” Tadeo noted.
Cantos also urged the Senate to review the agreement signed under AFTA-CEPT.
“With so many issues raised before and again now with the inclusion of rice, we ask the government to subject AFTA to Senate ratification and subject the agreement to closer scrutiny,” Cantos said.
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