[Philippines'] DA moving to fast-track rice deal with Cambodia

Posted on May 14, 2012 

bworldonline.com

THE PHILIPPINES is seeking to facilitate a rice supply deal with Cambodia by stepping up efforts to secure signing authorities for both countries.

"Secretary [Proceso J.] Alcala had written to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) to request them to coordinate with the Cambodian government to help the Cambodian ambassador to the Philippines secure his own authority to sign the agreement in behalf of the Kingdom of Cambodia," Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson U. Palad said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Mr. Palad added that Mr. Alcala (pictured) had similarly requested Malacañang for authority to sign the agreement on behalf of the Philippines.

"This is similar to what we did in our rice deals with Vietnam and Thailand. As far as I know, the request is still pending with Malacañang," he said.

DFA and Palace officials were not immediately available for comment.

Dante S. Delima, Agriculture assistant secretary and coordinator of the National Rice Program, said the deal would be for either three or five years, with Cambodia guaranteeing 100,000 metric tons (MT) of rice annually.

"As with our other rice supply agreements, the deal with Cambodia will be on a needs basis. It just guarantees that Cambodia will prioritize us should we need to import rice and will be able to provide us with up to this specified volume," Mr. Delima explained in a text message.

The Agriculture department in April said it hoped to reach the rice supply deal with Cambodia, adding to existing agreements with Vietnam and Thailand, as the government was looking to source 120,000 MT of this year’s total rice import volume of 500,000 MT via state-to-state deals.

The National Food Authority (NFA) imports rice to ensure adequate stocks, especially for the lean months of July to September.

"Secretary Alcala wants us to wait for the Cambodia MoU (memorandum of understanding) to be signed before we send out letters to countries for the rice import deals," said NFA Administrator Angelito T. Banayo in a separate text message. "But we need the imports deal finalized immediately, as the lean months are coming."

He said the rice imports should arrive no later than the end of June. Mr. Banayo earlier said that to give countries ample time to secure the volume, rice imports deals must be finalized by this month. -- Bettina Faye V. Roc