MANILA — Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., who reported to his first day of work on Monday, can help ensure food security by focusing on rice supply and cold storage, Sen. Francis Escudero said.

Speaking to ANC’s “Headstart”, Escudero said Laurel should make ensuring rice supply and addressing "perennial problems” like produce rotting before reaching markets his priorities.

“Priority would be domestically sourced — and then, kung kulang talaga — to ensure that prices won’t really surge, a rationalized importation while we still cannot produce enough rice,” he said.

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He added that the National Food Authority should be given "enough powers to do what it was meant to do, which is 'buy high and sell low’.”

He said that the NFA was originally "designed to lose money and perform a service, which is buy high from the farmers, so that they would earn and plant again, and sell low to the public so that the price of rice would be within reach” and should be allowed to do so again.

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Escudero said the Rice Tariffication Law, which removed caps on rice imports, should also be reviewed.

He acknowledged however that government might not be willing to do so right now since it was only passed in 2019.

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Critics of the law — including farmers’ groups like Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas — say it has failed to keep rice prices low and is harmful to the domestic rice industry.

Escudero also offered simple suggestions to the NFA: Use 'First In, First Out' for rice stocks and open more gates at warehouses to make it easier to move rice in and out.

Cold storage

The senator also said that part of the Department of Agriculture’s budget for 2024 should be allocated to putting up cold storage facilities for produce.

He said that the government can prioritize areas that supply staples like vegetables, onions and garlic.

“That can be done within a year,” he said, and would help ensure more farmers earn from their produce.

Farmers have, in the past, been forced to sell produce like tomatoes at a discount, give them away, or leave them on the roadside to rot.

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Lack of cold storage facilities, hoarding and alleged cartel behavior have also led to price spikes in produce like onions.

Escudero said Laurel’s appointment to the DA was timely because there is time to realign the proposed national budget to the Marcos Jr. administration’s programs.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held the agriculture portfolio until Laurel’s appointment was announced earlier this month.