THE Department of Agriculture in Northern Mindanao (DA-10) announced Wednesday it plans to remove rice tagging in an effort to address price manipulation allegedly being carried out by retailers.
DA-10 Supervising Agriculturist Dr. Ferdinand Caraballe said during a press conference with the Philippine Statistics Authority-10 that the decision came after the agency found price manipulation was occurring at the retail level.
“Among na analyze nganong di man gyud manaog ang presyo sa bugas. So, among na dissect nga there is some manipulation on the retailers’ side,” Caraballe said.
Rice importers, who were previously questioned by Congress, denied responsibility for high prices, asserting that their selling prices were low.
“The ball is now with the retailers, who pass high prices on to consumers,” Caraballe said.
Caraballe explained that some retailers were mislabeling regular rice as premium and premium rice as special to justify higher prices.
This prompted the DA-10 to recommend the removal of rice tagging, which categorizes rice into regular, premium, or special to determine pricing.
“Tanggalon nalang siya kay it’s up to the consumer kay ang consumer ila manang hawid-hawiran. Ilang simhot-simhoton (ang rice). So, decision na ni consumer kung paliton niya o dili. Di na mo tag si retailer,” said Caraballe.
The department is awaiting the release of implementing rules and regulations before fully implementing the policy change.
Currently, local rice sells for P55 to P60 per kilogram, while imported rice can cost as low as P36 per kilogram.
Caraballe attributed the higher cost of local rice to low mechanization levels among Filipino farmers.
To address this, the DA aims to provide more tractors, seeds, and fertilizers to reduce production costs. The agency is projecting that with these measures, rice prices could drop to P45 per kilogram.
