AGRICULTURE secretary William Dar on Monday said that the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund’s (RCEF) P5-billion allocation for farm mechanization in 2019 was not used.
In a press conference on Monday, Dar explained that the release of funds was delayed and the process of procurement overlapped the agriculture department’s timeline.
“Hindi pa nagamit ‘yung last year’s budget para sa mechanization. ‘Yung proseso nila ng procurement hindi umabot sa mga timeline,” Dar said.
Due to this, Dar requested for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the 2019 mechanization allocation with the 2020 budget this year.
“We asked Department of Budget and Management to consider releasing both the 2019 budget with the 2020 para wala tayong backlog,” he said.
According to Dar, the budget will be released in late March.
The Rice Tariffication Law’s implementation will turn a year old on Mar 5. The law allows private sector traders to import rice without limits as long as they pay the 35-percent tariff.
The collected tariff was expected to earn the P10-billion RCEF, with P5 billion to be allotted to farm mechanization and P3 billion to seedlings. (GMA News)
