AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol said the approval of the free irrigation program and the implementation of the Corporate Farming System are two of the biggest accomplishments in the agriculture industry as the Duterte administration turned 100-day old in office.
Piñol told reporters Friday, October 7, at the sidelines of the recently-concluded National Banana Congress 2016 at the SMX Convention Center, Lanang, Davao City, that beyond material interventions for farmers, the hope that now rises among farmers is the greater fulfillment of the present government.
“I think the greatest achievement of the administration under Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in his first 100 days in the area of agriculture is the realization of the commitment, promise made by many leaders before for free irrigation and Corporate Farming System (for rice and corn),” he said.
Free Irrigation
Piñol said this is the first time that free irrigation was granted to small rice farmers.
“This is the most outstanding performance of the Duterte admin, getting both Congress to agree and support the free irrigation program,” he said.
The free irrigation will start next year at the first planting season.
Although there were oppositions coming from some officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) stating that the free irrigation scheme “would affect the viability of the agency since the Irrigation Service Fees (ISF) amounting to about P4 billion every year is the source of the salaries of its workers and officials,” Piñol said, Duterte has other noble thing in mind other than collecting taxes from the lowly farmers who provide food for every Filipino's dining table.
The Congress favored the President's idea that an allocation of P4 billion will be included in the NIA budget for 2017 to cover the ISF collections.
“The President's idea is really for small farmers who are the priority, while corporate farmers serviced by NIA will have to pay the irrigation service fees,” he said.
Corporate Farming System
The approval of the Corporate Farming System by the President, Piñol said, will revolutionize the agriculture industry in the Philippines.
“This is another major accomplishment, we believe that this measure will free the farmers from (unfair) traders and middlemen,” he said.
The scheme, Piñol explained, is a proposal for local farmers to supply the rice allowance intended for beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) with a supply deal worth P25 billion a year.
“The rice supply scheme which I presented to the President during the Cabinet meeting yesterday marks the first step in the program of the agriculture department to establish an assured market for the Filipino rice farmers’ produce,” Piñol said earlier.
“The proposal, which I submitted during the Cabinet meeting (August), originally planned to involve local government units (LGUs) in a rice supply arrangement where the local government units will finance the seeds and fertilizer requirements of their farmers,” he added.
He underscored that the LGUs will then open up rice retail outlets called “bigasan ng masa” where the 4Ps members “could withdraw their monthly rice allowances and other poor families could also acquire their rice supply, as well.”
The Department of Social Welfare and Development which handles the 4Ps rice supply program nationwide will pay the LGUs. The scheme, as recommended by President Duterte will also engage farmers’ associations and cooperatives in a bid empower farmers’ groups.
Meanwhile, President Duterte emphasized in his speech last Friday during the banana players gab, that Philippines can make it big in agriculture and that “Mindanao remains to be a viable agricultural land.”