By Manny Piñol
President Rody R. Duterte yesterday approved a proposal by the Dept. of Agriculture to source the rice allowance intended for the country’s poor families from the Filipino rice farmers, a supply deal worth P25-billion every 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.
Filipino farmers have been at the mercy of the traders and middlemen who control the buying price of their produce.
In the absence of efficient drying and storage facilities, the farmers are forced to sell their produce at prices dictated by the traders.
The proposal which I submitted during the Cabinet meeting, originally planned to involve local government units in a rice supply arrangement where the LGUs will finance the seeds and fertilisers requirements of their farmers.
The LGUs will then open up rice retail outlets called “Bigasan ng Masa” where the 4Ps members could withdraw their monthly rice allowances and where other poor families could also acquire their rice supply, as well.
The LGUs will then be paid by the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development which handles the 4Ps rice supply program nationwide.
During the Cabinet meeting yesterday, President Duterte said that the scheme should also engage farmers associations and cooperatives to empower farmers groups.
Following the advice of the President, the rice supply scheme which will now be known as the Corporate Rice Farming System, will be implemented initially with four (4) LGUs as pilot sites and the farmers’ associations or cooperatives.
Under the scheme patterned after the successful model of a private corporation, Yazaki-Torres, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) will provide financing to both the LGUs and farmers’ cooperatives so they could provide hybrid or certified seeds, fertilisers and inputs to the rice farmers in their localities.
The farmers’ palay production will be bought at government support price which then will be processed and sold in the local “Bigasan ng Masa” outlets in the locality, primarily to serve the rice allowance requirements of the 4Ps beneficiaries and other poor families.
The Dept. of Agriculture will come into the program by providing the technology the farmers need and establishing modern drying and storage facilities.
The scheme will not only facilitate the supply of freshly-milled and lower priced rice to the poorest of the poor in the communities but also give farmers access to good seeds, fertilisers and farm inputs which are vital in increasing their palay production.
It is also expected to provide a direct link between the farmers and an assured market and could be considered a form of contract growing.
The Corporate Rice Farming System is the DA’s first attempt at liberating the country’s rice farmers from the exploitation of unscrupulous middlemen and traders who manipulate the buying price of their produce during the peak harvest season.
(Photo of President Duterte and his official family taken before the start of the Cabinet meeting yesterday in Malacañang. Photo by John Pagaduan)
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