- Rice prices up in Davao Region, but no crisis yet: DA XI
THE TIGHT supply in the market naturally pushed rice prices up. However, a Department of Agriculture official in Davao Region (DA XI) assured the warehouses have enough buffer stock for two months.
During the Kapihan sa PIA on Aug. 25, Agnes Cecilia Roble, DA XI senior agriculturist, the low sufficiency level of rice is due to inadequate areas suited for production.
“Eventually makita nato nga naa gihapoy makaon nga bugas, ang problema lang ga-taas [ang presyo]. Basically, kung kulang pa atong supply karon, naturally ang presyo nato ana medyo mosaka pud an sya gamay (Eventually, we can see that there is still enough rice to eat, the only problem is [the price] is high. Basically, if our supply is still insufficient, the price will naturally go up a bit),” Roble added.
She said the Davao Region has a 54% rice sufficiency level, which means they have to find other means to fill the gap, such as importing from other regions, to feed its estimated 3.75 million population.
But she assured that the region is not yet in crisis mode as there’s enough buffer stock until local farmers start harvesting.
“Dili man gyud ni crisis kay naa paman tay mapalit, wala man ta nag-linya, nag queue, open paman ang market sa bugas, naa lang instability sa presyo (It’s not really a crisis because we still have something to buy, we don’t line up, we don’t queue, the rice market is open, there’s just instability in the price),” Roble said.
As of Aug. 25, premium local rice is sold at P56 per kilo, P52 pesos per kilo for well-milled rice, regular-milled rice at P50 pesos per kilo, and well-milled imported rice is sold at P56.
Nevertheless, the official assured the prices will start to stabilize in September during the harvest season.
