Reviewing Rice Tariffication in the Time of COVID-19: Rationale and Road to Rice Self-Sufficiency in the Philippines

Abstract

This paper presents a literature-informed and data-driven critique of the Rice Tariffication policy in the Philippines, in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic that has already disrupted rice supplies and hiked rice prices globally. Gaps in the surveyed literature are complemented by discussing the rationale of rice self-sufficiency in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous (VUCA) world, and outlining a roadmap to rice self-sufficiency bolstered by practical policy recommendations to bring the law closer to the Philippine State's declared policy, which is "…to ensure food security and to make the country's agricultural sector viable, efficient and globally competitive."

Keywords: rice industry, COVID-19 economy, Philippine agriculture, rice tariffication, policy review