P12B sought for rice program next year
The Department of Agriculture’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program is seeking a P12-billion budget for 2011, nearly four times the current P3.1-billion allocation, the program’s chief said yesterday.
“Our budget proposal for 2011 is P12 billion for the rice program,” Frisco M. Malabanan, director of the GMA Rice Program, said in a phone interview.
“Since we are targeting 100% rice self-sufficiency by 2013, support from the government is needed,” he added. “Without the department’s support, local government units will not be able to promote systems such as the use of hybrid rice varieties.”
In an earlier interview, Mr. Malabanan had said his office needed at least P500 million for assistance to hybrid rice farmers next year, 43% more than the current P350-million allocation.
Mr. Malabanan said the P12 billion will be used to fund subsidies for fertilizer, hybrid and certified rice seeds; construction of irrigation and post-harvest facilities; training programs for and loans to rice farmers.
Mr. Malabanan said the program promotes the use of organic fertilizer. “We are focused on using organic fertilizer — the use of animal manure and plant waste — because the cost of inorganic fertilizer is still high,” he said.
With regard to irrigation facilities, Mr. Malabanan said the program will focus on building more small water impounding projects.
He added that the program will continue its allocation for loans, considered “one of the critical needs” of farmers.
Post-harvest facilities like flatbed dryers and rice millers will also remain a priority, he said.
He said that while the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization, previously called the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension, is responsible for research and development of such facilities, the GMA Rice Program is responsible for actually procuring and providing the infrastructure and facilities.
Palay production decreased by 11% to 3.49 million MT in the first three months of 2010 from 3.94 million MT in the same period last year, a reduction the Agriculture department blamed on the dry spell that lasted from December last year to May.
Output is projected to further decrease by 9%, year on year, to 3.11 million MT this quarter and then by a slower 4% to 3.39 million MT in the third quarter, according to the Agriculture department’s first-quarter report released last May 17.
Despite the projected decrease in production, the GMA Rice Program has maintained its target of 17.4 million MT this year. BusinessWorld
