Philippines Opens Farm Data Platform as Rice-Tariff Fight Complicates Cambodia Import Push
On July 22, the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) opened its Agriculture-based Central Data Ecosystem (AbCDE) Platform 1.0. DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the USD 3.5 million system, funded through South Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) program, was developed with South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion, and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (EPIS). The platform cuts registration under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) from up to ten days to five minutes and reduces subsidy preparation time from 26 days to five. The platform also adds a municipal-level farmgate price-watch feature, serving the Philippines’ roughly 10.7 millionregistered farmers and fishers.
On July 21, Tiu Laurel met Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Dith Tina in Manila at the Cambodia-Philippines Government-Private Sector Forum on Agriculture. The forum drew 33 companies from both countries to discuss expanded Cambodian rice, cashew, and livestock exports, building on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Agricultural and Agribusiness Cooperation that the two countries signed in February 2025, during Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet’s state visit to Manila. Cambodia exported about 70,000 tonnes of milled rice to the Philippines in the first half of 2026, according to the Cambodia Rice Federation, and both sides are pushing for more.
However, the import push has also faced some domestic resistance. Danilo Fausto, President of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, has called for the rice tariff to return to a fixed 35%, the rate set when the 2019 Rice Tariffication Law took effect. The tariff was cut to 15% in 2024, followed by a 2026 shift to a flexible band tied to global prices. Fausto argues the current system offers too little protection and risks “the death of the local rice industry.” Former Agriculture Undersecretary Fermin Adriano has countered that affected farmers could be supported through direct cash transfers, which he says would cost less than what consumers save on cheaper imported rice. As the flexible tariff resets quarterly, the next adjustment is expected in October.
