Government earmarks P43.7 billion vs looming food crisis

CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday bared a P43.7-billion agriculture assistance packages designed to stimulate the country’s agriculture sector in the face of a looming shortage in rice supply. President Arroyo, who made the announcement at the National Food Summit held at the Fontana Convention Center, said the assistance packages will ensure abundant and affordable food supply in the country. “We must work harder to grow and breed what we need," the President said. A report from Philippine News Agency, meanwhile, pegged the budget at P34.5B, while Q-TV's News on Q placed it at P43.5B. The multi-billion package had been clustered into six areas namely fertilizer, irrigation, extension and education, loans and insurance, dryers, and seeds (FIELDS). President Arroyo of the P43.7-billion fund, around P500 million had been set aside for the development and production of organic fertilizers like Bio-N. She said this is important in the face of the 200 percent increase in the price of urea fertilizers. President Arroyo said the fertilizer fund would be sourced from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and instructed the Department of Agriculture (DA) to “utilize proven technologies like Bio-N" to increase the harvests of rice farmers in the forthcoming wet season. On irrigation and infrastructure, President Arroyo said P6 billion would be spent by the government on infrastructure like farm-to-market roads, roll on-roll off ferry ports, and non-frill airports for agricultural cargo. Another P6 billion, meanwhile, will be spent in the rehabilitation of existing irrigation systems and the construction of “small" irrigation facilities. For this, the President ordered the National Irrigation Administration to work on the completion of the rehabilitation of the irrigation systems by 2010. For extension and education, the administration has allocated a total of P5 billion, with P2 billion earmarked for research and development, P1 billion for capability building, P1 billion for trainors and technicians, and P1 billion for the agricultural and fisheries education system. “We recognize the importance of continuous training of farmers and fisher folk on new technology. I instruct the DA to continuously implement programs and interventions with close cooperation from the Department of Interior and Local Government and the local government units as well as the Department of Science and Technology," President Arroyo said. On the loans aspect, the President said P15 billion is available to the farmers through the different government financial institutions. She said this is on top of an earlier P5 billion credit line that was made available by the Land Bank of the Philippines. “I direct (Agriculture) Secretary (Arthur) Yap to study how to maximize bank compliance to the agri-agra law. For farmers to have access to all this formal credit, I ask Congress to enact a law making farm land acceptable as loan collateral," she said. On the dryers and other post-harvest facilities portion, President Arroyo said an initial P2 billion has been allocated. She said this does not include a $300 million fund made available by Korea to local government units to improve the existing post harvest facilities. She directed Yap to establish appropriate integrated processing and trading centers in collaboration with the private sector, like the cold chain system and rice and corn processing centers. On the seeds aspect, the President said the government requires at least P2.7 billion to sustain funding for hybrid seeds, and another P6.5 billion for certified seeds which could be harvested from 2009 to 2010. She said some 600,000 hectares of land all over the country is targeted for certified seeds and another 900,000 hectares for hybrid seeds. Stressing the importance of supporting seed growers, President Arroyo said the success of the seeds program would "enable rained-lowland areas presently planted to good seeds to migrate to certified rice seeds and those planted to certified seeds, to migrate to hybrid seeds." She assured that the sending of these funds would be transparent, affirming commitments to rid the government of corruption. “In all these programs, we must be transparent. We will work to fix the corruption that still plagues our nation, including in the agri-business sector. We especially prohibit officials from dealing with fertilizer brokers and agents. They can only deal with official distributors in the regions and provinces," she said. Arroyo said apart from these spending, the government has also draw up measures to cushion the rising prices of commodities particularly rice in the world market. She said the DA, National Food Authority and NBI for instance are strictly monitor rice deliveries and investigate cases of hoarding, price manipulation and other illegal activities. She said the government is now holding officials accountable and if they are found to be corrupt and conniving with unscrupulous traders, “we are letting the chips fall where they may as investigations are concluded and friend and foe alike and brought to account for their actions". The President said another measure is the cancellation of the existing licenses of rice traders, retailers and bodegas by the DFA and NFA, which despite complaints had to be done. - GMANews.TV