Three provinces — Isabela, Ilocos Norte and Nueva Ecija — have kick started a value chain where they buy palay directly from farmers.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar has called for the country’s top rice-producing provinces to adopt the rice value chain, which can help small farmers offset the current dampened prices of paddy rice or palay.
Farmers would have full control of the whole rice value chain to keep them from reeling from the effects of the rice tarifficaton
The appeal came after three of the 10 biggest producers of rice in Northern Philippines — Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Ilocos Norte — kick-started a value chain where they buy directly from farmers, dry and mill them into rice and sell directly within the province and sister-cities like Mandaluyong, San Juan and Quezon City.
Following this process, farmers would have full control of the whole rice value chain to keep them from reeling from the effects of the rice tarifficaton, which has pushed down the farm gate price of paddy rice to its lowest this year.
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According to Nueva Ecija Governor Aurelio Umali, their local government has earmarked P200 million to aggressively buy palay from farmers and sell the majority in Metro Manila.
For provinces that lack the financially ability to make such purchases, Dar said they can borrow the capital to acquire the dryers, mills and other machinery from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
Dar, who also serves as LandBank Board of Director, said local governments can use their Internal Revenue Allotment as collateral to secure soft loans from the two banks.
To recall, former DA Secretary and now Mindanao Development Authority Chair Emmanuel Piñol also pushed for the realization of whole rice value chain during his term.
Meanwhile, to further help farmers and fisherfolk raise their income, the DA has initiated a total of 11 agricultural trading centers and has set up 192 TienDA units throughout the country. At the TienDA units, farmers and fishers can directly sell their products to consumers at the farm gate price.
