THE Department of Agriculture reported increased production on rice farmers, thanks to the agency’s intensified mechanization program provided by the Rice Tariffication Law’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
As of Dec. 31, 2021, some 682,502 farmers nationwide have benefitted from free farm machinery and equipment made possible by the RCEF’s mechanization program, the chief of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) said in a virtual press briefing.
“Our goal is to reduce the production cost of rice farmers so they can save up some for their savings and other farm needs. These machinery, which are given by the government for free, are meant to make the farmers’ lives more convenient, work will be faster and there will be more yield compared to manual or traditional way of farming,” PhilMech Director Dionision Alvindia said.
To date, PhilMech has procured 19,542 machinery, of which 16,167 have already been distributed.
“We just need to clarify that while these are free, we call on the farmers to please join groups as we prioritize farmer cooperatives and associations (FCAs) as beneficiaries of the program,” Alvindia said.
RCEF is a major component of Republic Act 11203 (RA) or the “Rice Tariffication Law,” which removed restraints on the importation, exportation and trading of rice. Restraints on imports were replaced by tariffs. Under the law, rice traders are allowed to import as much volume as they want provided that they will pay the necessary tariffs.
Import duties collected from rice imports beginning March 5, 2019 go to the annual P10-billion RCEF that is used to finance programs that will level up the competitiveness of rice farmers by way of providing them easy or free access to fertilizer, farm machinery and equipment, high-yield seeds and cheap credit; and offering skills training programs on farm mechanization and modern farming techniques.
Under RA 11203, 50-percent or P5 billion of the annual P10-billion RCEF will go to PhilMech for the delivery of farm machinery and postharvest facilities to farmers and their FCAs.
SOURCE: https://www.manilatimes.net/
