Farmers harvest their crops under the scorching sun on a tenth of a hectare rice farm in Barangay Krus na Ligas, Quezon City on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — The Department of Agriculture on Saturday said it is coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation on social media posts claiming that farmers have taken their lives due to low prices of palay, saying these reports are false.

In a Saturday news forum, DA Spokesperson Arnel de Mesa said based on the probe they conducted, the information was not true.

“Pinaimbestigahan na po yun ng atin kalihim at napatunayan na hindi totoo,” said De Mesa.

(The agriculture secretary has had that investigated and we found that that is not true.)

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The Manila Times newspaper, citing information from Magsasaka Party-list chairman Argel Joseph Cabatbat, reported on March 18 that at least three farmers in rice-growing Nueva Ecija province killed themselves because of farmgate prices of palay hitting P15 per kilogram or lower.

“Hindi tama [at] hindi nararapat yung mga ganitong balita pinapakalat dahil una disimpormasyon. Pangalawa may epekto ito sa atin mga kababayan,” De Mesa said.

(It is not right to spread these kinds of claims because, first of all, it is disinformation, and, second, this has an effect on our fellow Filipinos.)

De Mesa said prices of palay remain stable as dry and clean palay is at P24/kg while fresh and wet palay is at P18/kg.

According to Philippine Statistics Authority monitoring data released this month, the average farmgate price of dry palay in Central Luzon, where Nueva Ecija is, was at P19.46/kg in February.

Farmers' groups like Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas have said that low farmgate prices, which they said is made worse by rice importation, make it difficult for farmers to get by. 

Tenant farmers often have to borrow against their expected earnings to pay for seeds, fertilizers and rent even before the crop is harvested and sold.

But, De Mesa said Saturday, the Philippines, has recently lowered rice importation — reaching an average of 400,000 metric tons (MT) per month or 1.2 million MT for a whole quarter last year.

“Maganda ang magiging harvest natin ngayong taon babalik ulit tayo sa level na 2.1 million metric tons ng palay ngayong taon na to,” he said.

(We will have a good harvest this year and we estimate we will go back to the level of 2.1 million metric tons of palay harvested this year.)

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Among their measures to bring down rice prices, he said, include their fight on rice smuggling, monitoring of agricultural prices in markets, and putting a maximum suggested retail price on some rice varieties.