ILOILO City – Local government units (LGUs) must strengthen their rice buffer stocking amid the coronavirus pandemic and incessant fuel price hikes, according to Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary William Dar during a visit here last week.
The government will provide concessional loans to LGUs through Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines.
“This will lead to a more competitive procurement process during palay harvest, which traders can no longer dominate. The LGUs will now buy, dry, mill, store, and sell rice to their constituents,” Dar said.
From the original nine days, President Rodrigo Duterte approved to extend palay buffer-stocking to 30 days.
Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Jr. actually initiated the local procurement a few years back, revealed DA regional executive director Remelyn Recoter.
“He has allocated I think P100 million for the purpose of loaning it out to cooperatives,” she added.
As to other provinces in the region, Recoter said they have availed themselves of machinery and seeds instead of palay procurement.
However, she added, the DA regional office will push for intensified local palay procurement.
The DA national management committee led by Dar assessed the agency’s immediate responses and sustainable plans during a meeting on March 28 to 30 in Iloilo City.
The intensified LGU palay procurement targeting the country’s top 20 producing provinces was among those discussed.
In a bid to maintain food security, DA sought an additional P8 billion for farmers’ fertilizer subsidy, and funding support to urban and peri-urban agricultural areas.
Seeking to increase fish supply, the agency will pursue more interventions and research on aquaculture and mariculture.
The government will also upscale the adoption of locally-generated technologies in feed formulation to aid the livestock, poultry, and fishery sectors.
“We are realigning our budget purposely for these focus areas. We ask the government to give additional budget to sustain and level up food production, making the prices more affordable and supplies more accessible,” Dar said. (DA-6/PN)
