Agriculture Group advice that Rice Prices may rise to ₱4 in October

(Image by PhilStar)

MANILA, Philippines – The Farmers’ Group “Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG)” predicts a 3-4% increase in rice prices in October.

As per President SINAG Rosendo, the primary reason is the delayed distribution of a ₱5,000 cash subsidy to each farmer and has increased the price of farm inputs that was supposed to be used during the planting season. 

The Department of Agriculture clarified that the requirement for releasing funds to farmers was shortened thus the cash subsidy was not provided on time.

Meanwhile, the Department of  Budget and Management recently released a fund for financial assistance for farmers affected by the implementation of the rise certification law, so it was seen that when input costs rose, farmers would charge more for their produce. 

“Yung presyo medyo tataas yung puhunan ng mga magsasaka dahil yung fertilizer subsidy ay hindi naibigay ng DA, yung ID system daw may problema, yung sa cash na ₱500 naibigay na ng DBM, up to now hindi pa binibigay sa magsasaka.” President SINAG Roscendo explained. 

According to reports, the only requirement of the Landbank was that DA personnel take pictures with the farmers, and the pictures were not provided because the DA did not have a photographer at the time.

Domingo Panganiban, the DA’s undersecretary, will undertake to speed up the distribution of subsidiary funds to farmers.

However, the DA stated that they have not yet predicted if rice prices will rise in the upcoming months.