Iloilo farmers press for higher palay price, lower inputs
YRONG-YRONG CITY -- Iloilo farmers rallied here today decrying depressed farm produce especially palay. They rile against government trade liberalization policy that renders them helpless at the mercy of importers in complicity with smugglers. Rice farmers today are at the receiving end of the onslaught of giant rice importers led by a certain Cynthia Villar, a senator who authored the controversial Rice Tariffication Act, and smugglers who enjoy government connection. Farm inputs like urea have shot up beyond outer space, above P3,000 per bag. Though its price leveled down at P2,800 today, that is still way higher than its price last year at P800/bag. Costs of production --transport, fuel for machineries--have shot up but rice farm gate price is still pegged below P14/kilo. A certain tenant of Malacañang promised during the campaign for the May 2022 election to lower milled rice down to P20/kilo. Today, the cheapest rice sells at 40/kilo. “Binlod” or broken rice bits, sold to feed an