Govt may spend over P17B for rice program next year

The government’s budget for its 2011 rice program may reach P17.575 billion, an amount that would comprise almost half of the proposed Agriculture Department budget for next year, a government official said Thursday. The budget for the rice program next year is about P4.785 billion without the irrigation budget, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo told reporters. He said when the irrigation component is taken into account, the budget will reach P17.575 billion. At a forum convened by nongovernmental organization Rice Watch and Action Network, Araullo presented the six-year rice road map that seeks to attain sufficiency by 2013 and a net surplus on 2014, 2015, and 2016. Based on the presentation, Araullo said that rice sufficiency status is programmed in 2013 — the third year of the six-year rice road map — with production hitting 21.11 million metric tons (MT). Araullo also said that the surplus output is expected at 21.76 million MT by 2014, 22.41 million MT by 2015, and 23.08 million MT by 2016. The Agriculture Department is hinging productivity increases on yield improvements and an increase in area harvested, Araullo said. “We are proposing the shifting to white corn consumption," Araullo said. To better manage the demand and supply of rice, the government will be pushing for a decrease in the per capita consumption of rice to 114 kilograms by 2013 from 120 kilograms by 2011, Araullo said. Under the rice sufficiency road map, the government eyes an output of 17.4 million MT in 2011, 19.2 million MT in 2012, and a sufficiency output of 21.12 million MT in 2013. Last year, the 209 national irrigation systems managed by the National Irrigation Administration could only cover 746,337 hectares of rice field. The total irrigated area was 1.137 million hectares. The government spent P17.5 billion for the construction of irrigation facilities servicing 18,457 hectares, restoration of irrigation systems servicing 101,779 hectares, and rehabilitation of irrigation systems covering 174,505 hectares. – JE/LRS/KBK, GMANews.TV