THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday urged the country’s rice industry stakeholders to uphold free and fair trade amid the negative perception on rice importation under Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the “Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).”“It is true that under RTL, we encourage free trade primarily to lower the price of rice in the market. He clarified the seemingly abnormal influx of rice imports in the country for 2019. “We need to keep rice production profitable and rice prices affordable to a growing consumer market. It is imperative to make our rice production systems more efficient, inclusive and sustainable,” Dar said. He cited the implementation of the component programs under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) aimed at improving the competitiveness and income of rice farmers amid rice trade liberalization.

Source: Manila Times November 12, 2019 18:27 UTC