Photo Release

On importation of rice during harvest season: Sen. Imee Marcos, during the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform virtual hearing Thursday, October 22, 2020, questions the Bureau of Plant Industry's practice of issuing Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Import Clearance to rice traders during the harvest season. Marcos also got the assurance from the Department of Agriculture that farmers’ cooperatives and irrigators’ associations will be stricken off from the list of rice importers. The non-issuance of permits will be from February to April for the May harvest season; and July to October for the October harvest season. The senator further stressed that the 90-day prohibition of rice importation before the harvest season is specifically for the protection and development of poor rural communities which the World Trade Organization could not ignore. Aside from this, the senator urged DA officials to invoke SPS and technical barriers to trade (TBT) to prevent the influx of imported agricultural products. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)