“It’s the beginning of the end of the local rice industry. Even with the rice industry enhancement fund, the local rice industry do not stand a chance with massive rice imports.”
Price increases are to be expected as the country’s staple food will be solely at the hands of the profit-oriented private sector.
“This situation may lead to chaos and further manipulation of the supply and price of the staple by unscrupulous traders.”
“We are taking this opportunity to barrage the government with protests for the whole week until March 8 to expose his (Aquino) accountability for the worsening state of women.” – Gabriela
“The farmers-as-importers program is nothing but a legal cover provided by the NFA to rice cartels and smugglers to corner the big bulk of rice importation.” – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
MANILA – Women’s groups led by Gabriela stormed the offices of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Food Authority (NFA) in Quezon City, Friday Nov. 15. The groups demanded a rollback on the price of rice to P25 ($.57) per kilo, especially now that people in the Visayas islands are in a dire situation.…
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com MANILA — The day after their successful National Rice Farmers’ Conference held at the University of the Philippines, farmers from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Amihan – National Federation of Peasant Women, and Anakpawis party-list, held a mass action at the Department…
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
As of five days ago, the NFA awarded to the private sector the rights to import 660,000 metric tons out of the 860,000 metric tons of rice to be imported for the year, this despite news reports of sacks of rice rotting in NFA warehouses. And rice traders who import the rice would even be exempted from paying taxes.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com MANILA — Privatizing the National Food Authority (NFA) will endanger food security and lead to greater price destabilization. Transferring the NFA’s functions to the DSWD will put food security issues at the hands of big business. This was the warning the Advocates of Science & Technology for the People…
Not only does rice importation hurt local farmers, it is also the culprit behind the billions of pesos in losses incurred by the National Food Authority (NFA) over the years.