Farmers in Barangay San Roque, Guimba, Nueva Ecija filed a petition this July asking for a P20 floor price or minimum farmgate price of fresh palay.

“We signatories, the farmers of Nueva Ecija, demand a ₱20 floor price for fresh palay because of the high costs of seedlings, fertilizer, pesticide, fuel, and land preparation,” the petition stated. The capital needed for palay production is at ₱14 per kilo, but traders only buy it for ₱10-12 during the rainy season.

The farmers said they have no drying facilities or trucks to transport their harvest to the National Food Authority. The agency also fails to support them due to lack of funds, vehicles, and drying facilities for the province’s harvested palay.

“Thus, we have no choice but to blindly accept the low prices for our harvest,” the farmers said. Traders even claim that palay farmgate prices are low because the government is currently selling cheap rice. They are not fooled by this excuse as market rice prices remain high.

“What will happen to our lives as farmers? What will the future of our country’s farming be? Will we just rely on TUPAD, 4Ps, AICS, rice aid, and medical aid?” they asked.

Nueva Ecija, and Guimba in particular, is one of the largest rice producers. Data for the first quarter of 2023 shows that 345,547 metric tons (MT) of palay were harvested here. This made up 39.8% of the total palay production in Central Luzon. Central Luzon accounts for 18.1% of the national palay output.

In June, the NFA built a ₱63.9 million Rice Processing System (RPS) II Facility in Muñoz City, more than 19 kilometers away from San Roque and can only serve up to 6,000 farmers. Guimba alone has an estimated 7,500–15,000 farmers.

Aside from the ₱20 floor price, the farmers also called for the repeal of the Amended Rice Tariffication Law (RA 12078) which, according to them, “only pushes the government to rely on other countries’ agricultural produce for the Filipinos’ needs.”