|
CITY OF
MALOLOS—A militant farmers’ organization allied with the
Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya on Thursday blamed
the government’s neglect on the plight of farmers for
the rice crisis that the country is now facing.
Pablo
Rosales, chairman of the Pambansang Katipunan ng
Makabayang Magbubukid (PKMM), told the BusinessMirror
that farmers do not want a rice crisis to happen, but
many were forced to stop planting owing to government
neglect.
“Kapos
sa patubig ang malaking bahagi ng taniman ng pagkain
lalo na sa mga palayan,” Rosales said, adding that
major parts of National Irrigation Administration’s
(NIA) facilities are in dire need of rehabilitation.
Rosales
also explained that palay farmers can hardly provide
necessary capital inputs to their crops because of the
exorbitant price of farm inputs, coupled with low price
of palay.
These,
Rosales said, have resulted in the low palay production
in the country.
Rosales
also deplored the government’s bias for rice
importation, instead of providing incentives to farmers
to enhance their production capability.
“Ang
pagpapaunlad sa lokal na agrikultura ang sagot sa
kakapusan ng bigas,” Rosales stressed.
Farmer-leaders in Central Luzon said the government
should not only subsidize rice seeds but also inputs
like fertilizers and pesticides.
The PKMM
also said the government should immediately start
constructing additional irrigation canals and
rehabilitating old ones so that idle agricultural land
may be planted with the staple crop.
Meanwhile, NIA officials in Bulacan said that,
previously, the agency’s service area in the province
used to be 31,485 hectares of farmland, but is down only
to 26,791 hectares owing to land conversion.
Massive
land conversion has been blamed as the main cause of the
dwindling farmlands in Bulacan.
The NIA
officials also said they are having a hard time
maintaining irrigation facilities owing to lack of
funds.
As if
lack of funds were not enough, the NIA officials said
they cannot control thousands of squatters who have
occupied land easement for irrigation canals.
Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) continued
to deliver rice to elementary schools covered by
President Arroyo’s “Food for School Program”
administered by the Department of Education.
“The NFA
is acting on the call of the President to further
bolster the government’s hunger and poverty-mitigation
measures in the country,” said NFA Cordillera regional
manager Rolando Rufo.
Under
the Food for School Program, school children are
rewarded with a kilogram of NFA rice for every school
day they attend, Rufo said.
The NFA
and the Department of Social Welfare and Development are
helping the DepEd in undertaking the program, which is
aimed at encouraging children to go to school regularly.
The
program is being undertaken nationwide to mitigate
hunger and prevent the decline of the nutritional status
of poor school children by providing them with food
assistance. (With
I. Abaño) |
