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by Ira Karen Apanay Senior
Reporter
TO make sure the country will not
be hard-hit by a food crisis, the Department of Agriculture created
a task force to help sustain
record-high rice yields, and eventually achieve self-sufficiency in
grains and other food products.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap
said the Eminent Persons Task Force will be composed of former
Agriculture secretaries and other agricultural experts like Dr. Emil
Javier, Dr. Leo Gonzalez, Dr. Santiago Obien, former Agriculture
Undersecretary Apolinario Bautista and former National Food
Authority (NFA) Administrator Gregorio Tan.
The forming of the task force was
planned during Yap ’s meeting at the Manila Hotel with two former
Agriculture secretaries, Congressman Salvador Escudero 3rd and
Secretary Domingo Panganiban who heads the National Anti-Poverty
Commission.
Besides the creation of this
high-level task force, Yap also held separate talks at the Manila
Hotel with Catholic Church leaders to flesh out the
department’s plans to tap the network of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines and its social arm, the National
Secretariat for Social Action, in the nationwide distribution
of government-subsidized rice for the poor that the NFA is selling
at P18.25 a kilo.
After meeting with Senators and
House members on Wednesday, Yap declared the task force will help
oversee the implementation of the “FIELDS Initiative” of
President Gloria Arroyo.
“The experts who will comprise
our Eminent Persons Task Force will help carry out FIELDS and ensure
full transparency in the disbursement of funds under this
multibillion-peso initiative, that represents the biggest farm
spending ever by Government,” Yap said.
Multi-billion peso program
FIELDS stands for Fertilizer,
Irrigation, Education and training of farmers and fisher folk,
Loans, Dryers and other postharvest facilities, and Seeds of the
high-yielding, hybrid varieties, which was unveiled by the President
in last week’s National Food Summit held at the Clark Freeport in
Pampanga. The program is worth at least P40 billion.
Several farmers’ and
agribusiness groups have thrown their support behind the
President’s FIELDS program. Among them are the Philippine Food
Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. led by its President,
Roberto Amores; Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by
its Chairman Emeritus Ambassador Donald Dee; Philmaize, represented
by outstanding female farmer Rosalie Ellasus; Philippine Association
of Broiler Integrators represented by Rita Imelda Palabyab;
Philippine Fishing Federation represented by Alonzo Tan; and the
Philippine Vegetable Council of Lyndon Tan.
The President’s FIELDS
initiative covers the following:
• P500 million for fertilizer
support from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, with
special focus on the use of organic fertilizers;
• P6 billion for irrigation,
with the goal of rehabilitating all irrigation systems that need to
be repaired or rehabilitated by 2010;
• P6 billion for farm-to-market
roads and other rural infrastructure like roll-on roll-off (RORO)
ferry terminals.
• P5 billion for education,
extension and training of farmers on new technologies and research
and development on how to increase farm yields and lower production
costs;
• P15 billion in loans and
credit for farmers, fisherfolk and other small rural borrowers,
which is on top of the P5 billion the Presidient earlier ordered the
LandBank to make available to rice farmers;
• P2 billion for dryers and
other postharvest support like storage facilities; and
• P9.2 billion for hybrid
and certified seed production and subsidies until 2010, of which
P6.5 billion will be for certified seeds and P2.7 billion for hybrid
seeds.
Under the last item, the target
is to plant certified seeds in 600,000 hectares this year and hybrid
seeds in 900,000 hectares in 2009 and 2010.
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