‘97.5 percent rice sufficiency in 5 years doable, but…’

June 5, 2023 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The government should prioritize the competitiveness of local palay farmers amid the flooding of imported grains, according to a farmers’ group, as it pointed out that achieving rice self-sufficiency would be short-lived if it lacks profitability for producers.

In a radio interview yesterday, Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) national manager Raul Montemayor said that while President Marcos’ target of achieving 97.5-percent rice self-sufficiency in five years is “technically” achievable, local farmers would still compete with the unabated influx of imported rice under the rice tariffication law (RTL).

“Under the rice tariffication law, the government cannot prevent the importation of rice. It did not impose a ceiling on the importation. The law only stated that all agencies of the government are barred from preventing the ar