Philippines is expected to harvest less rice due to prolonged dry season and less rainfall
Farmers work in a rice field near the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines in this file image. (Photo: AFP)
A national farmers’ group in the Philippines has called on the government to remain vigilant against the hoarding of and profiteering from rice as climatologists warned about a prolonged dry season that can negatively impact crop harvest.
The state-run Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned that the El Nino phenomenon will persist until September.
El Nino is a weather condition that increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall as well as dry spells and droughts and negatively impacts the production of crops.
The Federation of Free Farmers expressed concerns that the dry season may not only be the reason for the skyrocketing of rice prices in the coming months but unscrupulous rice traders engaged in hoarding.
“Based on our data, the total projected demand of rice is 14.5 million metric tons and the actual rice to be consumed by our population is nearly 13 million metric tons. If the amount of exported rice dramatically exceeds that amount, the logical assumption is that they’re kept by hoarders,” the federation’s national manager Raul Montemayor told UCA News.
He said even if the government imports enough rice to cover for loss of rice yields the price might go up due to hoarding by unscrupulous traders.
"We are looking at different ways to control the price"
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., however, assured people the price of rice would be under control and monitored.
“Again, I want to assure our fellow citizens that … we are looking at different ways to control the price so that it wouldn’t increase that much,” Marcos said during an April 17 press conference.
He said the government is determined to stock enough rice to feed the country’s estimated 113 million people.
Marcos, who heads the nation’s Agriculture Department, claimed he was ready to import rice should the dry season result in a poor harvest.
Assistant agriculture secretary, Rex Estoperez, said the El Nino effects are just like “any other” calamity like the typhoons that hit the archipelago frequently.
“The impact could be similar if we have calamities like typhoons as it could affect rice production … we need to increase our buffer stock, we could import rice if there’s a shortage,” Estoperez told reporters on April 18.
The official also said that rice production in 2022-2023 would remain the same at 12.5 million tons, citing the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture.
The agency forecast rice imports would still reach up to 2.8 million tons, or 200,000 tons lower than in 2021-2022.
Government data shows rice prices were already rising due to inflation.
The cheapest variety of rice now sells at 36-44 pesos ($0.65-$0.80) per kilogram, up from 35-38 pesos at the start of the year, Reuters reported on April 14.
The farmers’ federation leader, Christopher Maligalig, alleged that rice traders have already begun hoarding so they can control the market price.
“We know tons of rice are already being stocked in warehouses for this purpose,” in the northern Philippines, Maligalig, chairman of the federation’s Bulacan province branch, told UCA News.
"They want to keep silent due to safety reasons"
He claimed their group has a list of warehouses in the northern Philippines belonging to suspected rice hoarders.
“We know because we have men on the ground and they were asked to look for men to put hundreds of sacks of rice in secret warehouses,” Maligalig said.
Farmers say speaking about the rice cartel is unsafe in the Philippines.
“We have some ten farmers who know about the cartel and politicians are involved in it. But they want to keep silent due to safety reasons” James Arasco, 38, from the Bicol region, told UCA News.
Arasco said their local produce was being bought by a local businessman who they later found out has been hoarding rice from all over the region.
“We don’t complain because at least we have an outlet. We cannot compete with the rice from Vietnam and Thailand. At least someone buys our rice,” he added.
Lawyer Ryan Pingol said the hoarding of agricultural products such as rice is a crime under Philippine law.
“Those found to be in violation of rice/corn hoarding and profiteering shall suffer the penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of 5 million pesos,” Pingol told UCA News.
The Catholic Church’s social arm, Caritas, has started a rice mobilization for the poor should a crisis hit in the next few months.
“We have bought good quality rice for its best price. For now, we are just going to keep it so that we can give it to the poor if the rice shortage predictions come true,” Caritas chief, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, said.
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