Rice prices in some Bicol stores as high as P75 per kilo, says group

Agri group warns of possible P2-P4 rise in rice prices, urges importation

Rice prices in Bicol has gone up to P60 to P75 per kilo in some stores, according to a consumer group.

In Mindoro which is a rice producing province, the prices range from P58 to P60 per kilo, Bantay Bigas said.

“Palaging binabanggit ng gobyerno na may stock, tumaas ang ating production… pero nananatiling napakataas ‘yung presyo ng bigas, mas tumaas pa,” said Cathy Estavillo of Bantay Bigas.

“Inaasahan natin na dapat bababa kasi ‘yung productin natin tumaas. May importation tayo,” she added.

(The government is always that there is sufficient stock, that our production has increased… but the rice prices remain high, if not higher. We are expecting it to go down because of our increased production and importation.)

Solutions presented by the government since the previous administration include the setting up more post-harvest facilities. But according to Estavillo, this failed to lower rice prices.

“Hindi talaga nila niru-root out ‘yung dahilan kung bakit tuloy-tuloy ‘yung kakapusan natin sa pagkain (they don’t really root out the real cause of food shortage),” she said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it continues to help farmers by giving them seeds for their crops, irrigation and machinery to increase rice production.

“Ang mandate ng DA is really to have more productivities of our farms, pataasin ‘yung local production ng palay,” said DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa.

(DA’s mandate is really to improve farm productivity and increase local palay production.)

DA fears that the effects of El Nino will result in a decreased production of palay this year. It, however, said it is exerting efforts to ensure sufficient supply.

“We’re talking with Vietnam para doon sa (for the) five-year framework agreement… but we are also diversifying the sources of bigas (rice) beyond Vietnam,” De Mesa said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News

This article Rice prices in some Bicol stores as high as P75 per kilo, says group was originally published in GMA News Online.