Butil wants P5B for agri-research development

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Butil Farmers Party said Friday it will propose a P5-billion allocation per year for agri-research development to rehabilitate the weak research capabilities of the agricultural sector.

In an exclusive interview with Sun.Star Pampanga, Butil Representative Agapito Guanlao said enough attention should be given to the agricultural sector's research and development programs as they remain to be the country's weakest spot in agriculture.

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"There is a need to come out with a world-class genetic pool for Philippine agriculture and our research universities can play a pivotal role in agricultural research and development," Guanlao said, stressing that there are many university research discoveries and innovations that are left to the dust bins because of lack of funding.

In order to make the research and development proposals work even more, Guanlao said President Benigno Aquino III should also explore the possibilities of public-private sector partnerships in rice production, including contract growing, to produce enough rice for the country's needs within the short term without burdening the already stressed out public funds.

Butil said the government does not have the resources, extension workers and credit system to achieve rice self-sufficiency adding that the key to achieving such is through private-public partnership.

"We have to rethink the whole rice self-sufficiency program because the standard programs anchored on government supervision are no longer available. We must shift production paradigms," Guanlao said.

Guanlao said an ideal mix of public investments, private participation and rice grow-out operations patterned after contract growing in poultry and hogs, should be put into play to diversify the programs needed to produce enough rice for domestic needs plus a decent buffer stock.

Guanlao also lauded the insights of President Aquino during his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) on the possibility of tapping into idle lands.

"President Aquino has raised the possibility of tapping one million hectares of idle or under-utilized farmlands for intensive food production. In fact, more than one million hectares can be tapped and much of it can be devoted to contract growing rice, with giant agribusiness groups as integrators," Guanlao said.

Butil, in supplementary statement, said it fully supports the initiative to produce enough rice because rice supply in a global market has been volatile, rice prices have been rising and being tagged as the number one importer of rice is "an affront to the country's farmers and agricultural sector."

"It makes full economic sense, this program of President Aquino to wean the country away from reckless and costly rice importation," Guanlao said.

Guanlao said President Aquino used the Sona to touch on the more important concerns of agriculture, from the provision of post harvest facilities and the full modernization of the agricultural production.

However, Guanlao said attention should also be given to the other more important concerns of agriculture like the full rehabilitation of the country's irrigation systems as these fall to disuse due to damages from erratic weather patterns and the challenges brought about by global warming. (Ian Ocampo Flora)