The series of articles on rice smuggling has exposed the gravity of this problem as it continues to impoverish Filipino farmers and threatens the viability of the country’s rice industry.
But in addressing the problem, the government plays a “cat and mouse” game. It may trap the biggest mouse of them all, but rice smuggling will not stop. Soon another big mouse will take his place.
One fundamental situation that seems to escape even well-meaning authorities is that rice smuggled into our country is easily absorbed by the local market. There’s a huge supply-demand gap when it comes to this staple, and this is conveniently filled by rice smugglers who get to rake in hefty profits—of course, with help from corrupt officials inside and outside the Bureau of Customs. Priced cheap from the country of origin, sneaked in and therefore duty-free, smuggled rice could be sold at a lower price, thus easing out the more expensive locally produced rice, in turn depressing the farmgate prices of the staple to, not even break-even levels, but depths pathetically lower than production costs. It will not take long before our rice farmers, especially the small ones, will be pushed out of rice farming. “Kung gusto mong malugi, magsaka ka ng palay” (If you want to lose money, go to rice farming), this lament from a rice farmer himself sums up the dire straits his likes are in.
Small rice millers suffer as well. Smuggled rice in local markets undercuts the rice production process. This, coupled with the dwindling domestic palay production through the years, resulting therefore in less palay to mill, has pushed rice millers to operate at undercapacity levels and, if the situation is not reversed soon, to extinction.
To end rice smuggling: Fill in the supply gap with locally produced rice. Provide rice farmers with ample services and production support, including price support guarantees, so they can produce more. These proposals, if implemented, will go a long way not only to end rice smuggling; they will also pave the way for the country to achieve its objective of rice sufficiency. Rice, after all, is the staple food of 85 percent of Filipinos.
—LITA MARIANO,
spokesperson, Bantay Bigas,
bantaybigas@yahoo.com