AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Wednesday called on senators to support reforms that would help draw more investments and develop the rice industry.
What the country needs is bold action to reverse the effects of decades of underinvestment in agriculture, which has left Filipino farmers struggling and the country reliant on imports, Tiu Laurel said in a statement, noting that over P1 trillion is needed to irrigate more than a million hectares of farmland.
“Without it, we enrich foreign farmers while our own continue to struggle,” he noted.
“Our goal is clear: import only what we need and produce as much as we can,” Tiu Laurel emphasized. “Let us ensure that the hands that feed the nation do not go home empty — robbed of dignity, stripped of dreams.”
He also reiterated the necessity of amending the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) and the Local Government Code — saying that while the RTL had good intentions, it has stripped the power of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) to stabilize the supply and price of rice.
Get the latest news
delivered to your inbox Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
The RTL, enacted in 2019, removed quantitative restrictions on rice imports and replaced them with a tariff system.
“As currently written, RTL does not reform the rice industry — it threatens to kill it,” Tiu Laurel said, adding that the Local Government Code devolved agricultural extension services and turned the DA into “a general without soldiers.”
Advertisement
Nonetheless, the DA has achieved gains, including nearly full-capacity NFA warehouses and the establishment of a new virology center, as well as projects like the South Korea-funded agri-machinery complex and the France-sponsored farm-to-market bridges.
Tiu Laurel also highlighted the success of domestic programs focused on faster insurance payouts, affordable credit and “youth agripreneurship.”
Set to be launched is a real-time command center for market data, he added.
