Published: 12:44 p.m., Feb. 11, 2018 | Updated: 12:38 a.m., Feb. 12, 2018

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol on Sunday said private businessmen should be barred from the rice trade in the Philippines even as he blamed “greedy” traders for the discrepancy in the rice stocks and the market price.

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Piñol made the statement in the wake of the reported shortage in supply of National Food Authority (NFA) rice in the country.

National security

“If it’s up to me, I would take the rice business out of private hands and give it to the government,” Piñol told radio station dzMM in an interview.

He said rice, as the staple food in the country, was “a matter of national security.”

Record harvest

Piñol expressed frustration over the rise in the prices of commercial rice even with the “record” harvest and stocks from 2017 up to the first quarter of this year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has also reported higher palay yield last year.

“If we continue to allow that pricing system, rice would be out of reach of ordinary consumers,” Piñol said on Thursday.

The agriculture secretary said the high price of rice had become a “great disservice to Filipinos.”

“No matter how hard we work and how much rice we harvest, if the Filipinos do not feel that in the context of lower prices, our work is all in vain,” he said.

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The NFA is mandated to determine the rice importation program, including placing caps on imports to ensure fair trade.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, earlier clarified that there was no shortage in commercial rice in the country and only the supply of NFA rice was dwindling.

Piñol attributed the problem to the alleged “anomalous food supply chain” in the Philippines, wherein “traders have control over the price of products of farmers” and “dictates prices in the market.”

Not felt in market

“Unless we correct this anomalous food supply chain, that is what will happen to us. We have an abundant rice supply, but this is not felt in the market,” he said.

“I can always tell you that we have enough rice in our warehouses today, but people will say ‘Why don’t we feel it?’ because the price of rice in the market has not gone down,” he said. /cbb /pdi

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