Delivery and distribution of certified rice seeds in the Municipality of Loreto (Photo credit: MIO-Loreto)
PATIN-AY, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur - More than 17,000 rice farmers province-wide who are registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) have received free rice seeds from Department of Agriculture (DA)-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in partnership with the Provincial Agriculture Office and Local Government Units (LGUs) through the Municipal Agriculture Offices (MAOs). A total of 45,455 bags at 20 kilos per bag were delivered and distributed to rice farmers from November 2019 to January this year.
The distribution of free rice seeds is in line with the implementation of the Republic Act 11203 otherwise known as “Rice Tariffication Law” which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on February 2019. Under Section 13 of this law, the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) or the Rice Fund is created with an annual appropriation of ten billion pesos for the next six years. Fifty percent (50%) of RCEF is allocated for rice farm machineries and equipment while thirty percent (30%) is allocated for rice seed development, propagation and promotion which shall be released to and implemented by PhilRice. Expanded rice credit assistance and extension services have an allocation of 10% each from RCEF.
With free certified rice seeds, it is expected that farmers’ total production cost will be reduced by around 7%, and an increase in yield by at least 10% compared to good seeds or farmers’ saved seeds.
RCEF’s goal is to improve the productivity and income of our rice farmers to make them more competitive in the advent of the entry of imported rice to the country upon lifting of the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice importation and replacing it with tariff. The QR was a concession to the country when the Philippines became a member of the World Trade Organization in 1995 and it expired in 2017 after 22 years.
For June-July 2020 planting season, 53,000 bags at 20 kilos per bag of certified rice seeds from RCEF are expected to be distributed by DA-PhilRice in Agusan del Sur in partnership with MAOs.