The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is adopting a whole-of-government approach to address rice inflation.
Rice inflation, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balasican, is multi-faceted and requires measures involving many sectors to address agricultural productivity issues.
“So, if you see this problem is a multi-faceted and the solution requires whole-of-government approach because it involves so many sectors,” Balisacan said during the 2024 Post-SONA Discussions at the Hilton Hotel in Pasay City on Tuesday.
“But clearly, addressing the productivity issue is a main concern because as we have pointed out, we have neglected this sector for so many decades and it’s high time that we pay attention to this – and we are doing that now,” Balisacan said.
“Now, it has become even more critical issue these past few months because inflation in rice has reached over 20 percent and whereas our overall inflation target is 2 to 4 percent. That has created a lot of problems not just for our poor people but also for the macro economy and because that has led to higher interest rates,” he explained.
In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, President Marcos said that although the country posted record palay harvest last year, it only equates to 13 million tons of rice, which falls short of the country’s rice requirement of 16 million tons.
To fill the shortfall, the country has to import, the President said, but the original focus is to boost local palay production.
Balisacan, who heads NEDA, also explained the need to temporarily reduce tariff on foods items particularly rice, noting the overall inflation for the country was dominated by food inflation last year.
The increase in food prices was the result of the Russia-Ukraine war, the onslaught of El Niño phenomenon, and the African Swine Fever that impacted on the country’s local meat production, the NEDA chief explained.
“And while global prices were rising and remain elevated during that period, part of the temporary solution was to reduce the tariff because if you have elevated prices in the world market and then you put on top of that high tariff then the more those prices will be felt at the domestic level,” Balisacan pointed out.
“So, clearly part of our policy tools to moderate and stabilize prices is to temporarily reduce these tariffs and that’s what we did through the actions of the NEDA Board,” he said.
President Marcos enumerated in his SONA the current government efforts to ensure food security in the country such as extending full support to the agriculture sector to improve food value chain.
The government also provided technical and financial assistance to help sector players gain new knowledge in production and capital sources.
Thousands of kilometers of farm-to-market roads are also being built for fast and easier transport of agricultural produce, the President said.
African Swine Fever vaccine will be released soon to livestock raiser to enhance meat production and protect them from future losses, he added. PND
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