The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. pushed for a uniform 35% tariff to be imposed on all agricultural imports to boost the state's food production economy.

This follows the group's proposal to discard the minimum access volume policy that puts lower duties on all agricultural commodities sourced overseas.

The Bureau of Customs defines MAV as the volume of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported with a lower tariff, as committed by the Philippines to the World Trade Organization under the Uruguay Round Final Act.

“The 1995 policy is long outdated, and food producers would rather have a uniform rate of as high as 35 percent on all agricultural goods being shipped into the country,” said PCAFI president Danilo Fausto during a meeting with Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel on Thursday.

Fausto said the policy was futile, citing the example of the country importing around 400 metric tons of dressed chicken last year, while the approved volume for chicken imports is only 23.5 metric tons annually.

“Revenue collection from the food-producing sector should be spent on improving the sector because, in the first place, RA 8800 was intended to relieve domestic industries’ suffering from serious injury as a result of increased imports,” he added, noting that the tariff-setting policy collected between 2018 and 2022 a total of P11.5 billion from the local dairy industry when the National Dairy Authority receives only a P500 million annual budget.

In the same meeting, the DA key official and food group also discussed the increase in onion domestic supply, resulting in the implementation of a no-onion import policy until May.

The DA said this prohibition may be extended to July, depending on whether its domestic harvest is sufficient to meet local demands.

PCAFI and Laurel agree to meet every 45 days. They are set to meet again in early March.