81% of RCEF target sites got rice seeds–DA

THE Department of Agriculture on Wednesday said 46 out of the 57 target provinces have already received 341,203 bags at 20 kilos per bag of inbred rice seeds under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed Program.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the 46 provinces, which make up 81 percent of the accomplishment, include 282 municipalities and cities with high potential for competitiveness in rice production.

Among the rice seed varieties distributed include NSIC Rc 160, Rc 216, Rc 222, and two locationspecific inbred varieties.

“The provinces have been identified based on the size of area harvested, yield level, cost of production, and share of irrigated area. These municipalities and cities have an annual area planted of more than 500 hectares for dry season 20192020,” said Dar in a statement, citing recent data released by the DAPhilippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

According to Dar, seed distribution is ongoing to cover the remaining 11 provinces, including 703 municipalities/cities.

He said the remaining 1,766,805 bags of seeds are scheduled for distribution this 2019-2020 dry season.

He said DA-PhilRice has already contracted out 97 percent of the seed requirement for this cropping period. “The 2 million bags of certified seeds will translate to planting around 1 million hectares of rice land which can contribute to increasing the yield up to 6 tons per hectare in high-yielding provinces by 2024,” Dar said.

Earlier, the DA forged a P432.78million deal with the country’s top seed growers to kick-start the government’s seed-distribution program via the RCEF. The DA said it forged a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with five seed growers’ associations and cooperatives for the seed component of the RCEF. The deal accounts for 21.64 percent of the P3 billion allocated for the RCEF seed program.

Under the MOA, the seed growers will supply 25 percent, or about 500,000 bags, of the 2 million bags of inbred rice seeds to be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries of the program.

The seeds procured by the government from the seed producers will be distributed to rice farmers in 57 provinces identified to have high potential for competitiveness.

The eligible farmer-beneficiaries should be listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture. Each farmer could receive a maximum of four bags of inbred seeds, depending on farm size for the October to December planting season.

The creation of the RCEF was mandated by the rice trade liberalization law, which took effect on March 5. The P10-billion fund will bankroll various programs for improving the productivity of planters who will have to compete with cheaper imports in the aftermath of rice liberalization.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz