A multi-sectoral alliance of cause-oriented groups has called on the Aquino administration to stop the  government’s rice importation policy following an exposed audit report of “legalized smuggling” of rice by private traders through the National Food Authority (NFA). In a press statement, Makabayan said Pres. Benigno Aquino III should “take decisive action on the age-old agrarian problem of peasant landlessness and tenancy, massive land conversions, high cost of farm inputs and private cartels in the rice industry.” Former Gabriela Women’s Party representative and now MAKABAYAN vice president Liza Maza told President Aquino that there are 2.7 million rice producing farmers and another 1.5 million employed in the milling and distribution of rice in the country and a vast majority are tenants and share-croppers. “Our 5 million hectares of rice lands were eaten away and reduced to just 2.1 million hectares by massive land conversions.  Those who remain in rice production have to contend with a low 3.5MT/hectare productivity with farm inputs costing some P30,000 to P45,000 per hectare,” Maza said.

The former party-list representative who lost a Senate bid alleged that about 85% of rice trading are controlled by rice cartels out for private profit. “This is compounded by rice importation officially condoned by no less than the government. If Pres. Aquino is concerned with our people’s food security and the nations’ interest, he should abandon privatization policies on such basic staple items such as rice,” Maza added.  Claiming that rice procurement is not a priority in its budget, Maza said the government’s National Food Authority has practically handed over rice trading to “usurers, profiteers, hoarders and smugglers.”  The Aquino administration has to address both the production and distribution problem of our food staple, starting with the land problem, raising productivity, reinforcing farmer support, providing adequate planting/harvest and post-harvest facilities and dismantling of trade cartels,” Maza pointed out. The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives is pushing for the passage of House Bill 3105 or the Rice Industry Development Act.

Meanwhile, the Hugpong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon (Humabol), with its allied organizations and partner NGOs, is also planning to have an economic and production summit or conference on the month of June. According to Danilo Olayvar, Humabol secretary-general, this will tackle matters with regards to increasing rice production, further development of sustainable agriculture and food security, and linkages with other sectors like the fisherfolks for cooperation towards mutual benefits for food availability, accessibility and affordability.

Olayvar said this plan of action was decided during the Humabol provincial council meeting. “Problems initially identified are landlessness or inadequate farm areas to till,  the high cost of farm inputs - making farmers vulnerable to exploitative usury system, unstable pricing of farm outputs favoring big traders and middlemen, inadequate or absence of government support or subsidy towards improve cost efficient food production, environmental destruction and worst, many farmers could no longer afford the rising price of the very rice they produced, since their harvest yield could not sustained their family needs before the next harvest season because of the high cost of farm inputs,” he added. Olayvar noted that what is also alarming is the average age of the working farmers, many young farmers or farmer's children are not enthusiastic anymore to work in farms - as small land-owners, as tenants or as farm-workers because of the sad state of our agriculture and the poor economic conditions of most of the farmers.