22,000 Central Luzon farmers may avail of DA loans

File Photo
File Photo

SOME 22,000 farmers in Central Luzon are set to receive zero interest loans under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program for Rice Farmers (SURE Aid) to help cushion the effects of the Rice Tariffication Law.

Just last week, Agriculture Secretary William Dar led the distribution of cash cards of P15,000 to each of 1,000 farmers in Nueva Ecija when the DA officially launched the SURE Aid program.

The loan is payable in eight years at zero interest.

Under the program, the Land Bank will administer the P1.5-billion fund from DA-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC) for farmers in the country.

DA Regional Director Crispulo Bautista said regional evaluators are now working double time to ensure that all farmers targeted under the program will receive their loans in accordance with instructions of Dar.

Bautista said the program will benefit farmers tilling a hectare land or less. DA staff and people from ACPC have been doing the rounds to check and verify the list of beneficiaries of the DA.

In Pampanga alone, there are around 4,000 beneficiaries.

Bautista said the process of the release of the assistance will not be too difficult to enable farmers to avail of the one-time loan.

“We expect some releases this September and hopefully before December all beneficiaries have been accounted for,” Bautista said.

The loan assistance aims to mitigate the impact of the influx of cheaper rice imports due to rice tariffication.

The loan assistance is among the support measures prepared by the DA.

Bautista admits that the loan is meant just to help farmers get through the current problem of falling farmgate prices for palay.

The rice tariffication scheme was enacted with the aim of bringing down prices of rice.

Its implementation, however, has led to higher rice prices of as much as P37 per kilo in certain areas.

This is despite the fact that from March to August this year, 2.2 million to 2.5 million metric tons of rice have already been imported and prices of palay (unmilled rice) have dropped to as low as P7 to P8 a kilo.

‘Buy palay from farmers’

To counter dropping farmgate prices, Dar had urged local government units to buy palay from farmers in their respective areas. Dar had reportedly secured the commitment of 25 provincial governments to procure palay at P17 per kilo.

In Central Luzon, the Nueva Ecija provincial government, which earlier put up a P200-million procurement fund, will buy fresh palay at P15 a kilo. The idea is to create local economic enterprises in the local level by stabilizing farm gate prices.

Bautista said that provinces can follow the rollover scheme of Nueva Ecija were the provincial government buys and mills the palay procured from local farmers. The local government could then sell the rice into the local markets or have it stored for later use.

“Local government units can rent storage facilities and dryers to make the buying and milling process more efficient,” Bautista said.

Meanwhile, Dar had also coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to give rice instead of the P600 cash to the beneficiaries of its rice subsidy program. The rice may be sourced by the DSWD through the National Food Authority (NFA) or the provincial governments.

Dar said he would also suggest to Congress to consider making his proposal a "permanent" policy.

"We are also talking with the legislative branch. Kasi kung naisabatas iyan at konti ang flexibility, we will suggest na mas maganda kung bigas. 'Yun ang position natin. At ire-rekomenda natin na this is a permanent policy," the Agriculture chief said.

President Rodrigo Duterte, on September 4, directed the NFA to purchase rice from local farmers at a relatively reasonable price. Duterte gave the order as he acknowledged the adverse impact of the entry of imported rice in the market following the implementation of the RTL.

Currently, NFA’s P7-billion funding allocation is not enough to buy the projected harvest of 6.0 million metric tons from 1.1 million farmers this year. Dar is counting on the support of provincial governments to least spend some P200 million each for local rice procurement.

Dar said his agency was planning to impose non-tariff measures like new sanitary and phytosanitary requirements on imported rice.

On the other hand, some farmer groups are worried that the current situation might get even worse.

Farmers and consumers under Bantay Bigas, Amihan and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) have protested against rice tariffication before it even became law.

Farmer’s group Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon even claimed, that in Pampanga, a kilo of hog feed (darak) is P12 while a kilo of palay is only P6.

While the price of palay has plunged, Central Luzon’s production targets remain positive.

Bautista said the region expects some 3.7 million metric tons for the season. For the first semester alone, the region already produced some 1.8 million metric tons.

“With good weather, we are confident to hit the target this season,” Bautista said crediting variables like good weather; farmers’ use of hybrid seeds; and the increase in irrigable areas in the region for the good yield performance.

This year alone, the DA recorded some 7,000 hectares of formerly rainfed areas that are now irrigated.

Central Luzon’s production alone accounts for 18 percent of the country’s total rice production. To boost this further, Bautista said they are doubling their effort to make hybrid seeds available and speed up the release of machinery to farmers in accordance with the directive of Dar.

Last year, the DA released more than P200 million worth of farm machinery in Central Luzon.

Some 10 dryers were also released last year with the DA planning to release eight more this year.

Some P400,000 million worth of hybrid seeds for 100,000 hectares were also distributed last year and the DA targets to distribute hybrid seeds for another 100,000 hectares this year.

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