Rice tarrification law now being judged - economist

COTABATO CITY  – An economist and agriculture expert from Samar has expressed doubts on the Rice Tarfiffication Law and fears of rice shortage mainly due to the coronavirus.

“Rice Tariffication Law now being judged...with Vietnam our #1 imported rice source closing...let us pray that Thailand & India won’t close its door for us...,” said Raul Reyes, an active social media player who airs comments and analysis on national and local issues through his FB page.

“What is now to be tariffed to fund our Agriculture Modernization when the door called rice importation close shop?” he asked.

He added: “It is not an accident...there was a warning in February 14, 2019” by then Agriculture chief and now Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chair Sec. Emmanuel Piñol.

First Reyes posted that VN Express International, the most read Vietnamese online newspaper reported on March 25 that Vietnam has suspended rice exports to ensure food security amid Covid-19 pandemic.

The March 25 news said: “Vietnam Customs has stopped issuing clearance for rice shipments to ensure food security as the Covid-19 pandemic intensifies.”

The article added: The decision follows the Prime Minister's statement at a cabinet meeting on the imperative of ensuring food safety amidst the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Reyes also posted a Feb. 14, 2019 article by Businessworld online about Piñol’s warning against government’s heavy reliance on imported rice amid plans to liberalize imports and doubled down on his earlier support for rice self-sufficiency.

“It is as certain that 10 years from now, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and India will no longer be able to export the same volume of rice that they ship out today. They have to feed their growing population as well,” Piñol then said.

“The point I am raising here, which I have raised in many occasions in the past, is: Yes, let us allow imported rice to come in to fill up the supply shortfall. But the policy to just rely on imported rice and ask our rice farmers to diversify to other crops is a death trap. This is a shortsighted view which will kill the rice industry and drive away farmers from the rice fields,” Piñol added in that 2019 article.

Piñol’s fear then was what if El Niño hit the country. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) was unknown then but now, the current health crisis, should remind agriculture officials that too much reliance on rice imports was indeed a “death trap.”