Second-termer Bataan lawmaker is pushing for a bill that will add income to local farmers.
Congresswoman Geraldine Roman of Bataan First District said her House Bill 6761 or the “Bataan Farmers Coopetition Act” aims to put up hubs of clustered farmer organizations that will directly sell to consumers, including resellers.
Rep. Roman said this practice had been going on in Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand and want to replicate it for Filipino farmers and be implemented first in her hometown province.
“Bago pa man ang COVID-19 pandemic ay isinusulong ko na ang farmer’s rights and welfare. Nais nating bigyan sila ng ibayong lakas upang masiguro ang patuloy na produksyon ng pagkain at maitaas ang antas ng kanilang pamumuhay. Ngayong panahon ng krisis, mas nakita ng higit na nakararami ang kahalagan ng sektor ng agrikultura,” Roman said in her Facebook Page post.
Filipino farmers suffer from low income because of low farm gate price of unmilled rice (palay) and the high cost of rice production.
Roman believes that the low farm gate price of unhusked rice is caused by increased competition from cheaper rice imports resulting from implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law enacted to liberalize rice imports to fill the local rice shortage and rice farmers lack direct market access.
“Ang mga Farmer Coopetition Hubs na ito ay mga sentro na itatatag para sa clusters ng farmer associations and cooperatives na magbibigay ng mga paraan at lugar para sa (1) pagkuha at pagbabahagi ng mga mapagkukunan ng mga kasangkapan sa pagsasaka (makinarya, kagamitan, pautang, pagsasanay sa magsasaka, buto, pataba, pestisidyo, at diesel) mula sa gobyerno at pribadong sektor, (2) pagproseso (drying at milling) at pag-iimbak ng bigas, (3) ang paggawa ng mga produktong bigas, (4) ang direktang marketing at pagbebenta ng mga produktong bigas at derivative products sa mga retailers at mga mamimili, at (5) iba pang mga natukoy na aktibidad ng kooperatiba,” Roman narrated.
Local farmers sell mainly to rice traders and wholesalers or millers who are known to increasingly buy imported rice or directly import rice to avoid incurring overhead for processing and distributing rice to retailers.
Also, the National Food Authority which lacks resources, is unable to fulfill its legal mandate to buy rice from rice farmers at reasonable prices. The high cost of rice production is attributable to notable increases in prices of fertilizers, which are imported, and the high price of diesel needed for farm irrigation systems, she added.
Rep. Roman said a law is needed that requires cooperation among competing farmer associations and cooperatives, or “coopetition,” through place-based clustering and establishes a multipurpose, fully equipped hub per cluster.
At present, according to Roman, the government extends farming assistance (machinery, equipment, seeds, training and loans) through competing farmer organizations, but farmlands are underutilized because not every farmer organization receives government farming assistance.