00:00The group of farmers is worried about the possible effects of imported rice entering the country.
00:06The prices of their rice might drop.
00:09But the National Food Authority assures that they will buy their rice at a reasonable price.
00:14This is Claydel Pardilla with the report.
00:19The rice is just starting to arrive, but the Federation of Free Farmers is already worried
00:24about the possible effects of imported rice entering the country.
00:28The imported rice is stored at a lower price.
00:54From January to September this year, more than 3 million metric tons of imported rice have arrived in the Philippines.
01:12Of the 800,000 metric tons here, the import started in June, when the executive order to reduce the price of imported rice was issued.
01:23If this continues and the price of imported rice drops, the group is worried.
01:29Over November, because that's the main harvest period, if there's a lot of imported rice locally,
01:37if you include cheap imports because you lower the price, the result is oversupply.
01:44The supply in the market is too high, the price of rice will drop even more.
01:50They will return the price to 35 percent.
01:53You don't need to import rice at that time because there's a lot of rice being imported.
02:01Subject to discussion, Secretary himself recommended that there will be a periodic review,
02:09which is every four months during the implementation of EO62.
02:14This is a very early stage to determine the impact of EO62 on the pricing and the effect on the farm gate price.
02:25The National Food Authority is ready to buy the imported rice at a reasonable price.
02:31The agency also has a P11 billion fund, which is enough to buy more than seven million bags of rice in the last quarter of 2024.
02:40The NFA will also lend drying equipment to the farmers to increase the price of their rice.
02:47I think the National Food Authority has been consistent in saying that we will support the farmers.
02:54In fact, right now, even if we say it's coming, we're still buying at P23 per kilo of fresh rice.
03:02And then we buy as high as P30 for clean and dry.
03:06So that's what our farmers expect from the NFA.
03:11That price is more than enough for them to earn a good income.
03:17The NFA is buying rice to make rice that is used in government relief operations whenever there is calamity.
03:25The Agriculture Department first said that there are two million bags of rice imported from NFA warehouses in various parts of the country.
03:35This is part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s administration's preparation for the possible effects of the flood.
03:42The government wants to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of rice in times of emergency or calamity.
03:50Kalay Zalpordilia for Pambalsang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
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