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THE
Department of Agriculture (DA) is urging the National
Government to set aside P6.5 billion for its rice
program next year to boost its chances of achieving rice
self-sufficiency by 2010.
Frisco
Malabanan, director of the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang
Ani (GMA) program, said the budget is double the P3.12
billion set aside by the government for the rice program
this year.
“Irrigation is a vital component to achieving a good
harvest so we allocated P4 billion for irrigation and
P2.5 billion for the GMA rice programs, including the
support for farmers for their hybrid rice seeds,” said
Malabanan. He said continuous support from the national
government to the farm sector would allow the country to
achieve self-sufficiency in palay production in three
years.
That
means that by 2010, the
Philippines
would no longer have to import millions of tons of rice
from other countries.
“Currently, we are already close to the 90-percent
self-sufficiency level. We are targeting to be
self-reliant in rice production by achieving a 95-98
percent target by 2010,” said Malabanan.
Earlier,
the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)—an attached
agency of the DA—disclosed that the agency is seeking at
least P22 billion to repair and rehabilitate irrigation
systems for 368,000 hectares of farm lands all over the
country until 2008.
The P22
billion was supposed to be used to rehabilitate
irrigation systems that will service 74,000 hectares of
rice lands in 2006, 147,000 hectares in 2007 and another
147,000
hectares in 2008.
Earlier,
Malabanan said the rehabilitation of all 368,000
hectares would allow farmers to plant palay the whole year round.
“Assuming that farmers plant only certified seeds, the
additional hectares could yield 3.1 million metric tons
(MMT) of palay. At a recovery rate of 65 percent, we
would have an additional production of 2 MMT of rice,”
he said earlier.
Currently, around 400,000 hectares of total farm lands
are irrigated or do not rely on rain for water. To
further boost production, Malabanan said the government
is seeking to expand farm lands planted to hybrid rice
seeds by 1.3 to 1.5 million hectares. |
