THE Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAFI) asked the 20th Congress to pass legislation that will boost coffee and sugar production, using as a model the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), which finances rice farm modernization with rice import tariffs.

“Tariff collections should be earmarked to the commodity sector where it was generated to help develop the said industry,” PCAFI, which is composed of over 40 agriculture groups, said in a statement. 

“Government officials, including economic managers, and lawmakers have touted the RCEF as a good model in developing an agricultural industry, since tariffs collected are plowed back for the industry’s sole development.”

It said candidates for competitiveness enhancement include coffee, sugar, tobacco, and vegetables, “most of which have been receiving measly funding allocations compared to other crops,” according to PCAFI.

Tariff collections for commodities imported under the minimum access volume (MAV) have been going to the general fund instead of being earmarked to domestic growers since the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund expired in December 2022, PCAFI noted.

It pushed for the immediate signing into law of the proposed Animal Industry Development and Competitiveness Act, which will create a P20-billion fund for the development of the livestock, poultry, dairy and corn industries.

Such a bill will boost government efforts in revitalizing the livestock sector, particularly the hog industry, which has been hit by the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak, while providing funding to the poultry and dairy industries, which have been “private sector-driven in the past decades,” PCAFI said.

The upcoming Congress should also abolish the MAV system for pork, chicken meat and corn since it is “outdated and actual annual imports are beyond the MAV,” PCAFI said.

“Furthermore, the in-quota and out-quota rates of most commodities are already at parity, rendering the privilege tariff rate under the MAV system impractical.”

It noted that the volume of imports can exceed the MAV quota by more than 15 times.

“Clearly, there is no need to further reassure our trading partners about the entry of their poultry products by having a MAV.”

PCAFI also proposed the creation of a virology center to enhance the country’s capacity to develop its own vaccines including those against ASF and Avian Influenza.

The industry group also called for the amendment of the 69-year-old Republic Act 1556 or the Livestock and Poultry Feeds Act to cover other feed for aquaculture, game animals, and companion animals. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza