Tagum City — The Provincial government of Davao del Norte expressed willingness to buy locally produced rice in his province at P16 or P17 per kilo depending on the variety.
Governor Edwin I. Jubahib made the announcement after meeting leaders from local government units who shared that rice farmers are worried because rice traders dropped the buying price to as low as P10 per kilo because it is harvest season.
Jubahid who regularly visits the communities said he personally talked to rice farmers and everyone shared to him their predicament on the prevailing buying price of rice, which according to him will hurt the farmers.
“The price of well-milled rice in the market is almost the same, I cannot understand why the buying price is low, and I know how much will it cost for a trader to mill the rice, there is a big discrepancy between the buying of palay and the selling of milled rice in the market,” Jubahid stressed.
The governor who was born and raised by farmer-parents said, “Many farmers have loaned their rice fields to survive during this pandemic. They are almost drown to their debts and every produce has been allocated to pay their debt and for their survival up to the next season, but with the very low price, they are crippled, they are left with almost nothing”.
Crisanto Abasta, a rice farmer in an interview with Newsline said, “Naprenda na namo tanan kay gutom na, unya na-Covid pa, karon lugi pa mi kay ubos kaayo ang presyo sa palit, mas malubong mi sa utang sa mga 5-6 ani, mag-interest man ang among gi-utangan, ug kulang pa ibayad sa among utang ang among halin”.
(We loaned everything because we are hungry and Covid pushed us further, now, the buying price is very low, we get nothing, this will further push us to loan sharks who imposes interest. The sale is not even enough to pay our loans.)
To help the farmers wade through the crisis, Jubahib said the provincial government will provide a mechanism and will buy their palay, and the same will be given to the people through the rations.
He said, the government is buying rice in the traders for the ration, this time, the government buys the produce, mill it and then, distribute the same to the farmers, in such a case, Jubahib said, they provide a food chain and at the same time support the local farmers.
It is the responsibility of the government to support its people, he added, while government intervention is necessary because the farmers have families and whose children are set to go to school despite enormous challenges.
Provincial Agriculturist Officer Jose Andamon revealed that Davao del Norte has an average rice production of at least s 4.6 tons per hectare.
Using the computation of the provincial agriculture’s office: for example with 1-6-0 variety, a hectare produce 5-tons of dried rice per hectare, and if sold at P13 per kilo, less all the expenses, a farmer will have at least P8,750 per hectare which is lower than the P12,7000 poverty threshold. A reason why farmers who are producing food remain poor while the merchants getting rich.
In addressing the rice problem, Jubahib said that he is set to call for a meeting among his finance and economic cluster heads to assess the situation and define the level of intervention in addressing the price problem, “We need to find a solution to address the situation of our farmers, they need to earn and the province has to intervene,” he added.
Andamon said, the problem of the farmers has been there for ages and no one dared to intervene until Jubahib stepped in.
Jubahib urged rice farmers to coordinate with the respective LGUs and connect with the municipal agriculturist office in order to avail the offer.
The provincial government, according to Jubahib has strengthened its support system because of the support given by First District Congressman Pantaleon D. Alvarez.
Alvarez in an earlier interview said that the government must provide a support system to cushion the impact of the pandemic which resulted to the current economic crisis.
