Pangilinan: carefully study shift from rice to other crops
SEN. Francis Pangilinan on Saturday said the government’s proposed industry roadmap making 23 provinces shift from planting rice to other crops and hog raising should be carefully studied.
“Pwede namang sabay at hindi isa lang ang pagpipilian.Sa totoo lang, ginagawa nang mga magpapalay nating may konting sobrang pera. Alam ni lana ang konseptong, ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ (It can be done simultaneously instead of having a single option. In fact, our local farmers with extra money have already been doing this. They know the concept, ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’),” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“Policy makers must be able to understand this concept, too, especially in its thrust to strengthen local production for food security and self-sufficiency,” the senator added.
According to the roadmap, 23 non- priority rice provinces would be transitioned to various commodities and industries such as abaca, banana, cassava, cattle, coconut, high- value vegetables, livestock, poultry and rubber.
The Philippine Rice Industry Roadmap (PRIR), which the government is currently finalizing, indicated that the 23 provinces are more competitive in producing other agricultural products.
The crafting of the PRIR was mandated by the Rice Trade Liberalization Law, which took effect on March 5.
Under the draft PRIR, the government will prioritize public investments, particularly the roll out of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, in 57 out of the 80 rice-producing provinces in the country.
The draft blueprint will still undergo further contextual analysis before it is submitted to the head of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Using a set of criteria, the DA identified “high-priority” provinces that would benefit from government programs that aim to make production in their localities more competitive.
The criteria covered yield, area harvested, cost of production and percentage of irrigated area harvested, according to the draft blue print.
These high-priority provinces, according to the roadmap, “have medium to high yield (above 3 metric tons per hectare)” and their palay (unmilled palay) production costs are less than P16.94 per kilogram, the breakeven farm gate price under the new rice trade regime.