Rice Imports Fuel Philippine Food Security Concerns

The Philippines has become increasingly reliant on imports to meet its food needs, particularly rice, which accounts for around 30% of the country's total imports since 2022. According to Leonardo Q. Montemayor, chairman of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and a former agriculture secretary, this overreliance on imports has led to a drastic drop in tariff collections, depriving farmers of funding for improving their productivity and competitiveness.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has implemented measures to manage trade and mitigate the impact of imports on local farmers. The DA has increased its efforts to promote agricultural exports, such as bananas, mangoes, and pineapples, in new global markets like Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union (EU). The DA has also implemented a P50 per kilogram price cap on 5% broken-grain varieties of rice.

Jayson H. Cainglet, executive director of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), emphasized that trade liberalization should not come at the expense of farmers, fisherfolk, and food security overall. He called for greater transparency regarding the administration's trade agreements with Canada, Chile, and the EU to understand the proposed trade deals more thoroughly.

Rosendo O. So, chairman of SINAG, highlighted the need for stronger protections for the agriculture industry. He emphasized that high imports and lower tariffs will affect food security and recommended focusing on exporting agricultural products to countries closer to the Philippines to minimize tariff adjustments.