DA chief says no rice cartel, blames past administrations

March 6, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday blamed past administrations for current woes in the agriculture sector, saying no major investment was made in the past 40 years.

“The main fault of previous administrations was they failed to invest in irrigation and post-harvest for rice and corn with scale to solve the problem,” he said.

Tiu Laurel stressed that it was only during the administration of President Marcos when the government started to invest in the farm sector.

At the same time, Tiu Laurel said there is no rice cartel amid the high retail price of the staple, despite the implementation of Executive Order No. 62, which lowered the tariff on imported grains to 15 percent from the previous 35 percent.

“The industry is quite fragmented to have a cartel, only profiteering of some importers and retailers,” Tiu Laurel noted.

“Cartel means many (traders) are conniving to set prices. But even in the market level, we monitored different prices in a market so there was no standard pricing. In the intercity, each importer sells at different prices,” he added.

The agriculture secretary was forced to implement a maximum suggested retail price (SRP) on rice and declare a food security emergency to bring down the retail price of the staple.

Initially set at P58 per kilo on Jan. 20, the rice max SRP decreased to P55 per kilo on Feb. 5, P52 per kilo on Feb. 15, up to the current P49 per kilo.

According to Tiu Laurel, the target of P45 per kilo max SRP is still achievable by end-March.

“The price of rice in the world market is going down and the peso is going strong so our plan is, if this trend continues, by March 31, we can bring down the max SRP on imported rice for five percent broken to P45,” he said.

Commenting on the matter, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairman Danilo Ramos said that Tiu Laurel’s statement on the absence of a cartel emboldens traders involved in profiteering.

“The soaring prices of rice, onions and other basic goods despite ample supply are undeniable proof of market manipulation by powerful syndicates,” Ramos said.

Ramos added that market manipulation harms both producers and consumers, leading to artificial shortages and inflated prices.

“The quinta committee focused on top importers because there were clear signs of speculation in the rice import market, such as swelling commercial inventories, delays in withdrawals by importers and imports surpassing United States Department of Agriculture projections,” he said.

‘Sell palay to NFA’

To avoid being shortchanged by unscrupulous traders, National Food Authority Administrator Larry Lacson on Wednesday asked farmers to dry their palay and sell them to the NFA instead.

Lacson said farmers should take advantage of the dry, hot weather to thoroughly dry their palay.

He said that while drying the harvest may take a few additional days and an extra cost of P1 per kilo, the rewards are substantial.

“That’s a net additional income of P4 per kilo. For example, a farmer harvesting five tons per hectare could net an extra P20,000,” Lacson said.

According to the NFA chief, farmers should invest a little more time and effort into drying their harvests, stressing that this simple step could significantly boost their earnings and help meet the country’s growing rice demands.