MAYNILA – Farmers cannot be on the losing end if the national government decides to lower the price of rice, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. said Thursday.

Speaking to ABS-CBN's Sakto, chamber president Danilo Fausto said farmers are seeking two things - to lower the prices of rice for the consumer but to ensure farm gate prices remain high.

“Hindi naman natin pwedeng ibaba ang presyo ng pagbili ng palay sa mga magsasaka dahil nasa mahigit P12 ang cost nila dahil sa taas ng fertilizer saka ng fuel. Hindi naman natin pwede pabayaan na hindi naman sila kumita, wala nang magtatanim kundi kikita," he said.

(We cannot lower the farm gate prices for the farmers because their costs are P12 [per kilo] because of the high prices of fertilizer and fuel. We cannot allow that farmers do not earn. No one will plant if they don't earn.)

He said government must give financial aid to farmers if they want to bring down prices of rice.

“Ang nangyayari ngayon ay talagang government intervention. They can bring down as much, as lower as they can, basta may pera lang ang gobyerno na pang-subsidize doon sa lugi na tatamaan dahil hindi ho naman pupuwedeng i-sacrifice mo yung kapakanan ng magsasaka versus doon sa kapakanan ng konsyumer. Kailangan win-win tayo dyan,” he said.

(What is happening now is government intervention. They can bring down as much, as lower as they can, as long as government has money to subsidize the losses. We cannot sacrifice the welfare of farmers versus the welfare of consumers. It has to be win-win.)

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr earlier said the Philippines is close to achieving his goal of bringing down prices of rice to P20 per kilogram.

Marcos, who is currently the country's agriculture chief, said rice being sold in Kadiwa stalls and the National Food Authority (NFA) are pegged at P25 per kilogram.

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:Palapit na tayo doon sa ating pangarap na mag-P20 pero dahan-dahan lang, aabutin din natin 'yan. Pero marami pa tayong gagawin, andami pang nangyayari at wala naman tayong magawa dahil ang pagtaas ng presyo ng bilihin ay hindi naman nanggaling sa ekonomiya natin. Nanggaling 'yan sa mga pangyayari sa iba't-ibang lugar na hindi natin ma-control," he said.

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