Farmers and civil society groups Tuesday urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to probe activities of rice traders in the wake of increasing prices of rice.

They also called on the National Food Authority to intervene in the market and stop further increases in rice prices.

National Rice Farmers Council (NRFC) president Jaime Tadeo said that instead of dismissing the trend in increase of rice prices as a normal price movement, DA Secretary Arthur Yap “should hold the rice traders accountable for possible overpricing.”

Tadeo said that the traders bought the farmers’ harvests in October and November at a very low price of only P7 to 8 pesos per kilo when the prices of palay were low as a result of the damage caused by storms Ondoy and Pepeng.

He said undamaged palay was bought at a slightly higher rate of P13 to 14 per kilo.

“The traders spare no mercy. After taking advantage of the damage suffered by the farmers on their palay harvest, the rice traders now want to rip the consumers further,” said Trinidad Domingo, president of the Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK).

Non-government organization Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) asked NFA to intervene and flood the market with lower-priced rice.

“We want the government to send the unscrupulous rice traders a stronger message and action than Secretary Yap merely justifying the rising trend in prices,” R1 lead convenor Jessica Reyes-Cantos said. She said the DA has to “set the record straight” by looking at the possible cause of the price increase to disprove doubts that it is treating rice traders as sacred cows.

Meanwhile, the Task Force Food Sovereignty (TFFS) also raised the alarm that the NFA may be withholding the release of its supply now for distribution at the height of the election campaign period later.

“The administration will do everything in its power to get the votes they badly need. The traders will not pity on us and yet we cannot even rely on the government to defend us,” TFFS spokesperson Nestor Diego said.

Domingo said farmers fear government may choose to release the stocks in April when the farmers are harvesting their palay.

She said the government will not help the consumers now and worse, they will press the prices of palay down when the harvest comes.