In the Philippines you can’t call a ‘meal’ without rice. Most Filipinos eat three meals a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner with the presence of rice. But what would happen if the country did not provide its citizens with enough rice to eat? As the population of the Philippines is increasing, the amount of rice grown by local farmers is becoming insufficient for the total population of our country.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the Philippines is a strongly committed member of the WTO (World Trade Organization) since January 1, 1995. The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental organization that deals with the management and arrangement of international trade between two or more nations. This is one of the reasons why the Philippines allow other countries to import their rice, another reason is for the people to have an extensive selection and also sustain the right supply for the population in the Philippines. We do agree that the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law helps our economy to reduce inflation. However, there is the other side of the story. There are effects of the action, mainly is the drastic dropped in the prices for the local rice, inadequate of capital, absence of provision from the government, and for the farmers that are struggling to compete in the market enduring labor causing many of the farmers to protest and speak for their justice to make a difference that way it the government can come up a solution for the problem.
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The Rice Tariffication Law
“An act liberalizing the importation, exportation, and trading of rice, lifting for the purpose the quantitative import restriction on rice, and for other purposes”. The law was implemented because of the price hike that caused rice to strike Php70 per kilogram last year. To terminate the said rising of inflation the Government officials passed the Rice Tariffication Bill. The law enables the country to have a sufficient supply of rice and provide lower domestic price in order for the citizens to afford in a much lower price. By allowing many rice competitors to enter the market, the retail of rice will decrease as the supply increase.
Consequence of Rice Importation to Our Local Farmers
Although rice importation helps our economy to reduce inflation, it cannot deny the fact that the excess supply of rice may cause a major impact to the livelihood of the country’s local farmers. Philippines is known as one of the agricultural countries in the world because 47% of the land can be a source of food crops. But why the farmers of our country are crying and seeking for help? How does the mentioned law affect their lives? 'No to rice importation'; the government is still talking over the particular matter mainly because it contradicts the matter of exportation which is were authorized by being a part of the WTO (World Trade Organization).
As the cheap rice imports are being sell to the market the consumers will no longer support the rice produced by the local farmers, that’s why the retail price of the farmer’s rice dropped enormously. Some province in our country sell rice as low as Php7 to Php8 per kilogram even though the original production cost is Php12 per kilogram.
Conclusion
To sum up, the implementation of the rice liberalization law may help our country to resolve the issue of rice inflation, however allowing international farmers to compete with our local farmers may cause a major damage to our farmers lives. In order for our agriculture to grow and foster we should harbor and nourish what’s ours and not depend on other countries' imports. We value farmers as much as how we value our teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and so forth. To work out the issue there are various solutions speaking of providing more supply and need for agriculture specifically to the farmers, greater value for local palay, and more importantly to hold on what's ours.
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