THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it plans to set up an information system supplying real-time agricultural data.
“What we have agreed on is really to implement right away the national information marketing network… because we see that there are inefficiencies in our market,” NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations Development Programme Investor Map for the Philippines launch.
“For example, you’re a trader from Pampanga, and you find out that it’s cheaper (to trade) in Tarlac, then you go to Tarlac,” Ms. Edillon said in Filipino.
The information system would be patterned after the National Information Network (NIN) under Republic Act No. 8435 or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act.
The NIN was meant to harmonize inconsistent agricultural data from various agencies and research institutions.
Separately, NEDA’s food inflation subcommittee is looking into the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) delayed distribution of minimum access volume (MAV) quota allocations this year.
In February, the DA proposed the suspension of the MAV for pork and corn to lower dependence on imports. The quota for pork was to be reallocated to give processors a larger share compared to the traders.
Last month, the Meat Importers and Traders Association wrote to Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr., saying the quotas should have been distributed earlier this year.
Under the MAV, overseas producers of selected commodities are allowed to ship in goods up to a quota for a lower tariff, with shipments exceeding the quota charged higher rates. The MAV system is a feature of the World Trade Organization’s trading system.
In December, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. signed Executive Order 50, which extended the low-tariff regime for pork, rice, corn and coal.
Tariff rates were kept at 15% (within the MAV quota) and 25% (for shipments exceeding the quota) for pork, 5% (within the quota) and 15% (for shipments exceeding the quota) for corn, and 35% (all countries of origin) for rice until Dec. 31. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
