Farmers in Barangay Bantud, San Roque, and other barangays in Guimba, Nueva Ecija filed a petition this July calling for minimum farmgate price of fresh palay to be pegged at ₱20 per kilo. They explained that production costs reach ₱14 per kilo, yet traders only buy the palay for ₱10–12. At the height of harvest season, some traders have even dropped the price to as low as ₱5 per kilo.

Farmers have no drying facilities and no trucks to transport their harvest to the National Food Authority. The agency lacks funding to provide meaningful support. This forces the farmers to accept the exploitative prices traders offer.

Nueva Ecija, particularly Guimba, ranks among the largest rice producers. In data from the first quarter of 2023, the province produced 345,547 metric tons (MT) of palay. This accounts for 39.8% of the total palay production in Central Luzon. The region, in turn, comprises 18.1% of the national palay output.

In June, the NFA established a ₱63.9 million Rice Processing System (RPS) II Facility in Muñoz City. The facility lies more than 19 kilometers from San Roque and can serve up to 6,000 farmers. An estimated 7,500–15,000 farmers operate in Guimba alone.

In addition to the ₱20 purchase price, the farmers also called for the repeal of the Rice Liberalization Law (RLL) or RA 11203, saying that the law pushes the government to rely on foreign agricultural imports to meet Filipinos’ needs.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) strongly supported the farmers’ demand in Guimba.

The group stated that traders are using the influx of imported rice in the market to further lower the price of local palay. Under these conditions, palay farmers incur losses and sink deeper into debt. Only traders and importers profit from this setup.