Farmers decry decision to defer rice tariff hike

A farmer uses a machine to plant soybeans in Bozhou, Anhui province. Wholesale prices of China's agricultural products went up Friday, according to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. china daily

Members of the organized group Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) over the weekend expressed apprehension over the decision of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to “terminate” its initiative to study the need to levy higher safeguard duties on rice imports.

FFF national manager Raul Montemayor said the DA leadership showed an “apparent indecision” on the issue, which defeats the purpose of the law that may pose irreparable harm to farmers.

“There seems to be no sense of urgency and no appreciation of the serious difficulties that rice farmers are facing. The rules on general safeguard duties were designed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow governments to quickly and effectively address market emergencies brought about by trade liberalization,” Montemayor underscored.

“If the DA Secretary felt that the economic managers should be consulted on the matter, he should have done this in advance given the urgency of the situation. Now it appears he is simply tossing the problem to the Economic Development Cluster (EDC).”

Under the WTO rules and Republic Act 8880 or the Safeguard Measures Act, general safeguard duties may be temporarily imposed on imports of rice, on top of regular tariffs, if there is an evident surge in rice imports that threatens the livelihood of rice farmers.

On 10 October, the DA issued a statement saying that the initial investigation the department launched last month that would lead to an additional rice tariff rate was “terminated.”

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the decision on the safeguard duties will now be discussed with the country’s EDC. It can be recalled that it was the EDC members who pushed for the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law.

The FFF further expressed doubts that the EDC will look favorably on the imposition of safeguard measures on rice imports.