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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE Philippine government needs at least P55
billion to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2010, a government
official said.
In the economic managers meeting on Thursday at
the Manila Golf Club, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
Augusto Santos said the officials agreed the need to increase the
amount to P55 billion from P43.7 billion to have more funds for
irrigation.
President Gloria Arroyo earlier unveiled the
P43.7-billion initiative for Philippine agriculture called FIELDS,
an initiative where massive amounts of funds will be infused for
fertilizers, irrigation and other rural infrastructure, education
and training for farmers, loans, dryers and other post-harvest
facilities, and seeds of the high-yielding varieties.
Of the total P55 billion, Santos said the bulk
or 60 percent will finance irrigation, and the remaining amount will
go to fertilizer, education and training of farmers and
fisherfolks, loans, dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and
high-yielding seeds.
“The proposal will be presented to the NEDA
[National Economic and Development Authority] Board meeting soon for
approval” Santos said.
Santos said the budget for the rice
self-sufficiency program will be financed through government’s
yearly budget.
The government is targeting a 100-percent
self-sufficiency in rice by 2010 or 2011. Today, the country’s
rice self-sufficiency is from 90 to 95 percent, making imports of
the staple necessary.
Palay production this year is projected at about
17 million metric tons for a population of about 89 million.
According to Philippine Rice Research Institute
(PhilRice), the country can save up to $500 million annually from
importing rice if local rice production is boosted to
self-sufficient levels.
The Department of Agriculture earlier said that
Philippine rice imports may increase to 2.1 million tons this year,
from 1.9 million tons in 2007, as rising wheat prices make bread and
pasta less affordable to poor Filipinos, boosting demand for cheaper
food products.
Rolando Dy, an economist at the University of
Asia and the Pacific said rice stocks are going to get tight with
hoarding by households and other parties.
“Imports will provide the supplementary
supply, but supply will remain tight till end-September 2008 as
exporters and speculators are holding back,” he said.
Dy added that the frequent announcements by the
National Food Authority (NFA) of large procurement of rice stocks
have partly contributed to sharp increases in world rice prices.
“Other Asian neighbors, such as Indonesia and
Malaysia, are doing these [sourcing rice imports] practically under
stealth,” he said.
Thailand may supply rice
An NFA executive said Thailand has not yet
confirmed if it will supply the Philippines a certain volume of rice
requested despite the signing of an earlier agreement.
“The MoA [memorandum of agreement] has been
finalized but it is still for review of the Thai people. They have
not replied yet and we never can tell when and how it will turn out
to be,” said Nestor Puangco, NFA Division Chief on Foreign and
Marketing operations.
Thailand Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej is
here in the country in talks with President Gloria Arroyo regarding
the current food crisis. But, Puangco said he is unsure if
Sundaravej will finally affirm the agreement.
“When we met with them [Thai representatives]
personally last Friday, they expressed that they are serious to help
us,” Puangco said. “I think this will push through.”
-- With Christine Joyce S. Placino
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