TERMINATING Padiberas Nasional Bhd’s (Bernas) monopoly of rice imports will not bring down the price of rice, which is already low, said the federal agency’s chief executive officer, Ismail Mohamed Yusof.

“The price of rice is already cheap. A total of 60% of rice is local rice, so when you speak of cheaper prices, that means lower income for farmers,” Ismail said today.

“As it is now, a bowl of rice costs 26 sen, so, how much cheaper do you want it to be?”

Ismail was responding to an announcement last week by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub that Bernas’ three- to four-decade monopoly of rice imports will end soon in a move to open up the rice market and drive prices down.

Ismail said Bernas had a system in place that worked, evident by the fact that the country has never experienced a rice shortage.

“We have never had issues with regards to self-sufficiency. We’ve always had rice in the market,” he said at Ilham tower this morning after a meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons.

“Our rice is among the cheapest in the region; our padi among the highest (number) in the region. That means the system works,” he said.

Ismail said Bernas also had an obligation to support farmers.

“We have always supported farmers. Padi is the only commodity that has a buy-back guarantee from the government. When the produce is infected, we will still buy from them,” he said.

“We also take the profit from the sole rice import and subsidise local rice. These are our social obligations that no one talks about.”

Bernas owns 28 mills out of 180 mills in the country. Malaysia has about 150,000 padi farmers. – June 12, 2018.