Manila, The Philippines
August 14, 2008
Source: The
Department of Agriculture
Some P1.68 billion in windfall
earnings from the 12% Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) on oil
products will augment subsidies for palay farmers starting this
wet or main crop in the form of certified seeds, in step with
President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) goal of
increasing rice sufficiency and providing food on the table of
every Filipino family.
Another P6.5 billion is being allocated by President Arroyo for
the intensified palay procurement program of the National Food
Authority this main harvest season, with the NFA to purchase as
high as 500,000 metric tons (MT) from farmers, or about 1,460%
higher than the 32,044 metric tons of palay it acquires from
local growers at the government support price during the same
period last year.
In a recent media forum, Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department
of Agriculture (DA) noted that for the National Seed Program
alone, the Arroyo government is spending P9 billion over the
next two years in subsidies coming from earnings from the VAT on
oil products.
He said that for the dry crop in 2009, which will cover 1.80
million hectares of land, the DA is poised to distribute seed
subsidies to farmers so they can plant hybrid seeds in some
300,000 hectares and certified seeds in 1.50 million hectares.
Such subsidies coming from the “Katas ng VAT” will given, he
said, at an equivalent of P1,500 per farmer/hectare for those
planting hybrid seeds or P1,200 for those planting certified
seeds.
As ordered by President Arroyo at the onset of the dry or summer
crop, the NFA support price was almost doubled to P17 from P12
to increase the farmers’ incomes and encourage them to plant
more crops this wet crop and onwards, in step with the rice
sufficiency goal that was spelled out by the Chief Executive in
her very first SONA.
Just recently, the President also directed the DA and NFA to
increase the latter’s support price for corn from P8.50 per
kilogram to P13 per kilogram for white corn and from P7 to P10
per kilogram for yellow corn.
Higher farm spending by the government in keeping with President
Arroyo’s SONA commitments has raised palay production by an
annual average of 4.07% over the 2001-2007 period, enhancing the
national rice sufficiency level from 87% in 2006 to almost 93%
this year.
Each sack of certified palay seeds under the subsidy program can
generate up to 120 sacks of palay or 60 sacks of milled rice.
The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) is also ready to provide
P7 billion in microfinance loans, which farmers can avail
themselves of to improve their crop production, Yap said.
Aside from the subsidy, the DA has stepped-up its collaboration
with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on the
development of high-yielding rice varieties that are
flood-tolerant, drought-prone, and saline-tolerant.
IRRI scientists had briefed President Arroyo on these new
weather- and disease-tolerant seed varieties during her recent
visit to this international rice center based in Los Baños,
Laguna, and where Yap had presented the government’s two-year,
five-harvest plan to raise the national rice sufficiency level
to at least 98% by 2010.
Agriculture officials are aiming for 100% rice sufficiency by
2013 by intensifying the DA’s intervention measures during the
next two years on the back of sustained, record-high spending on
Philippine agriculture and fisheries as reiterated by President
Arroyo herself in her 8th SONA.
Such financial support will enable the NFA, he said, to buy 10
million cavans of palay, which is almost 3% of the country’s
2008 target production of 17.32 million MT before milling or
about 6.5 million bags when already milled into rice.
As for the incentive program, he said that the NFA would offer
farmers a cash bonus of P1,800 for every 50 cavans of palay that
they will sell to the food agency, to entice them to sell their
produce to the government instead of to private traders this
main harvest season.
The DA and NFA have arrived at this incentive amount because it
is enough to buy one bag of petrochemical-based fertilizer at
the current steep prices. Prices have doubled this year to the
range of P1,500 to P1,900 per bag as a result of the nonstop
jump in crude oil rates in the world market.
While the government is raising the national rice sufficiency
level over the medium term, President Arroyo has tapped into her
“Katas ng VAT” subsidy fund to stabilize the cost of rice,
especially for low-income families, at this time of an
unprecedented global rice price shock.
Stressing the urgency of feeding the Filipino people “now” at a
time of tightening food supplies and spiralling prices across
the world, the President had said in her 8th SONA that it was
imperative for the government to “ease the near-term pain while
investing in long-term measures” to address the global crisis.
With this in mind, the President had ordered the release of rice
subsidies that are expected to reach P20 billion by yearend, to
let the NFA provide sufficient rice to poor families at the
state-subsidized rate of P18.25.
The Arroyo government has established 10,919 Tindahan Natin
outlets, 1,533 rolling stores, 31 Bagsakan or drop-off centers
and 113 Barangay Bagsakan centers since 2001 in line with the
President’s pledge to expand consumers’ access to quality but
more affordable rice and other basic food items. |
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