‘RCEF will be used well, fast for farmers’

ACTING Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said he will focus on the implementation of interventions funded by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) to assist farmers incurring losses due to falling farm-gate prices.

Dar told reporters in a news briefing in Quezon City that he will ensure the smooth and proper implementation of initiatives bankrolled by the RCEF in the first 100 days of his leadership.

“This will be our focus for the next 100 days. To correct and accelerate the implementation of the RCEF,” he said on Tuesday.

“Rice farmers of almost 2.5 million are already waiting for the RCEF.”

Dar said he has instructed attached agencies of the Department of Agriculture responsible for implementing the interventions to inform rice planters that help is on the way.

The new agriculture chief said initiatives aimed at improving the competitiveness of rice planters should have been implemented earlier than the third quarter.

He said the DA will try to provide the necessary interventions to farmers in the next 100 days.

The DA will also craft a “catchup plan” embodying additional interventions to help farmers in the 2020 dry season. DA officials were instructed to complete it in two weeks.

The plan includes the provision of hybrid rice seeds, distribution of of inputs like fertilizers, construction of shallow wells and even direct cash assistance, he added.

“Let’s have a plan to compensate what we lost this wet season. We need a catch-up plan because it is during the dry season when all components of RCEF are expected to be in place,” Dar said.

‘Missing’ P4 billion

Dar will sit down with Da officials to discuss the P5 billion released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Da last December.

Until now, the Da and the DBM cannot see eye to eye on the purpose of the money. The Da maintained that it was a “special” fund meant for the national rice program, while the DBM insisted that it was already part of the P10billion rCEF.

Dar said he will look into how the P4 billion was allocated and used by the Da’s attached agencies. The P1 billion was returned to the Land Bank of the Philippines, which ra 11203 mandated to extend credit assistance to farmers.

Documents obtained by the BusinessMirror showed the Da used the money for production

support service (P1.005 billion), agricultural equipment machineries and facilities (P2.752 billion), irrigation network services (P241.465 million) and credit program (P1 billion).

The Da allocated P1 billion to the agricultural Credit Policy Council (aCPC) for its credit program; the remaining P4 billion was divided among 13 regions.

Sources told the BusinessMirror that regions 3 and 7 refused their share of the P5 billion due to absorptive capacity issues.

The DBM issued a total of 14 special allotment release orders (Saro) on December 28, 2018, to download the funds to the 13 Da regional field offices and the aCPC.

Government sources told the BusinessMirror that the DBM reached out to the Da in November. The DBM told the Da the fund was meant to complement its national rice program in anticipation of the enactment of ra 11203.

The Da then crafted a proposal, later approved by the DBM, according to government sources. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas