THE Philippine government expects to save up to $500 million annually from rice imports with the rice self-sufficiency master plan it has rolled out.

Dr. Anselmo Roque of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) noted that under the rice master plan, the government is targeting to produce 19.77 million metric tons (MMT) by 2010.

The level, Roque said, represents 100-percent self-sufficiency since it is more than the projected 19.62 MMT required by 94.9 million Filipinos by 2010.

“That’s even 100.74-percent sufficiency level. It means the country will be freed from scrambling for a rice-supply commitment from any member of the cartelized rice trader in the region,” said Roque.

“The rice master plan is tough as it needs a big budget, but it is doable,” he said.

The budget for the plan is P14.890 billion in 2009 and P14.967 billion in 2010, or a total of P29.857 billion.

To attain 10 percent self-sufficiency, the plan calls location-specific-interventions to help farmers achieve higher yields which could be at or near the on-farm experiments.

These interventions include improvement of irrigation systems’ effectiveness and efficiency through rehabilitation, use of high-quality hybrid and inbred seeds, integrated crop management, provision of soft loans for the establishment of shallow tube wells (STWs) and surface-water pumps, and delivery of extension support services.

The existing irrigation systems will be rehabilitated while those destroyed by natural and human processes will be restored. For rainfed areas, STWs and surface-water pumps will be provided to the farmer-partners through a soft-loan program.

Farm-to-market roads will be constructed or rehabilitated through the help of the LGUs, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Public Works and Highways.

High-quality seeds, said to be the most fundamental cultural practice in which other technologies are based, will be subsidized at P800 per bag of certified seeds and P3,000 per bag of hybrid seeds. 

THE unabated increase in oil and food prices has forced the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to revise its growth targets for the next two years downward, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

THE Export Development Council (EDC) is now targeting to submit to Malacañang for approval the new three-year Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) by the middle of the year with six new key challenges being taken into consideration.

THE national government and the Japanese government are now in the process of creating a medium-term framework that will serve as a blueprint for Japan’s assistance to the Philippines in the next five years, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

THE province of Saskatchewan in Canada will need 10,000 to 12,000 Filipino skilled workers to fill in the increasing demands of its labor market in the next five years, says its top official visiting the Philippines.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds, along with poultry and its products from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, following official confirmation showing that the avian influenza (AI) virus in the prairie area no longer exists in the last three months.

THE Philippine government expects to save up to $500 million annually from rice imports with the rice self-sufficiency master plan it has rolled out.

PLANT coffee and earn! National Coffee Development Board (NCDB) co-chairperson Pacita Juan advises farmers to go back to planting coffee, the price of which has shot up by nearly 400 percent.

IT”S school time again! Some may be a little sad that the end of summer is fast approaching, while others just can’t wait to go back to school and look forward to new things: social scenes, teachers, classmates and friends.