Two committees of the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill authorizing the Department of Agriculture (DA) to use excess rice tariff collections as direct cash assistance to farmers.
In a hearing, House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Mark Enverga of Quezon said his committee together with the House Committee on Appropriations approved House Bill 8964 or the proposed Cash Assistance for Filipino Farmers Act.
Authored by Appropriations Committee Chariman Eric Go Yap, Enverga said the bill seeks to provide assistance to farmers tilling 2 hectares of rice land until 2024.
In the same hearing, Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan said the agency is supporting the passage of the bill. The measure seeks to benefit 1.5 million farmers in the country.
Under the bill, the measure will apply only to farmers tilling 2 hectares or less of rice land. The DA shall establish actual beneficiaries of the proposal on the basis of its registry system for basic sectors in agriculture for rice.
The bill also directs the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to directly remit to the DA the said excess funds.
“Any money in excess of P10 billion in annual tariff revenues in any given year in the life of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund [RCEF], shall automatically be given as cash assistance to farmers, unless otherwise amended by law,” the bill stated.
The bill also directs the BOC and the DA to submit separate reports to Congress at the end of a calendar year, through the Committee on Agriculture, on the remittance of funds and the actual disbursement for the year, respectively.
Under the Rice Tariffication Law, tariffs collected from rice imports are used to fund the 6-year P10-billion annual RCEF to bankroll programs that provide farmers with high-quality seeds, machinery, easier credit access, and relevant training. This is meant to improve their productivity and become competitive.
Should annual tariff revenues from rice imports exceed P10 billion, the law mandates earmarking the fund by Congress—and included in the national budget of the following year—for financial assistance to palay farmers, titling of agricultural lands, an expanded crop insurance program for rice, and crop diversification.
Last year, the government collected P15.47 billion in rice tariffs from 2.38 million metric tons (MMT) of imports.
In 2019, the Bureau of Customs collected P12.3 billion in rice tariffs from 2.03 MMT of rice imports from March to December following the passage of the law.