Written By Bruce Zabala - Bohol Media
The Department of Agriculture has so far installed over 500 of the 1,000 flatbed dryers that the DA is set to put up in 37 rice-producing provinces across the country this year, in step with the long-term government goal to guarantee stable rice supply and prices through record-high yields of the grain till 2010.
In its report to DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) said that as of May 5, it has already installed at least 53 flatbed dryers in Nueva Ecija, one of Luzon's largest rice-production sites.
At least Ten (10) flatbed dryers were also installed as of last month in Iloilo; six (6) each in Bulacan, Bohol and Leyte; five (5) each in Zamboanga del Sur, South Cotabato and Agusan del Sur; four (4) each in Davao del Sur, Kalinga, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija; three (3) in Pangasinan; two (2) in Camarines Sur; and one (1) each in Tarlac, Occidental Mindoro and Isabela, according to BPRE Director Ricardo Cachuela, who gave an update on the status of the project during the last DA Management Committee meeting.
Cachuela said the BPRE is putting on the fast track the completion of this project, which this DA-attached office is implementing in Irrigators' Associations (IA) sites in cooperation with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), National Food Authority (NFA) and the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor).
Yap said this postharvest support for rice clusters nationwide will be complemented by continuing subsidies for seeds and inputs, disease prevention measures, and the repair and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities in unusable lands to help attain the goal of producing an all-time high of 17.24 million metric tons (MT) of rice this year and even higher yields in 2009 and onwards.
The DA is carrying out a twin-pronged approach to guarantee stable stocks and prices of rice in the short and long terms, which involves sustaining higher palay production in the years to come and in the meantime securing imports while the government is still in the process of attaining its food security or self-sufficiency targets.
Palay production reached a record 16.24 million MT in 2007 despite a dry spell, and is expected to hit an even higher yield of 17.32 million MT this year as a result of the continued, unprecedented levels of public investments by the Arroyo administration in the agriculture and fisheries sector.
This year's production target will most likely be attained by the DA, given that for the summer harvests alone, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) expects yields to reach 7.1 million MT, which is higher than the 6.8 million-ton output during the same April-June period in 2007.
As of May 5, DA officials on the field have reported that rice producing regions have so far harvested 5.893 million metric tons of palay in 77% of the total areas planted.
Moreover, the DA will also expand areas planted to palay during the main or wet planting season this year to 2.54 million hectares; and pinpoint some 92,000 hectares for its quick turnaround (QTA) program, which involves the insertion of a third-cropping season in between the summer and wet cropping seasons.
Yap has also ordered the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BWSM) to provide him an update on Strategic Agricultural and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZs) suitable for palay production so that both the government and the private sector can intervene in a focused manner to convert these into rice production sites.
For the dry season of 2009, Yap said that the DA will target at least 1.8 million hectares of land for planting with hybrid and certified rice seeds.
To help stabilize rice prices, President Arroyo already directed the DA and NFA to clamp down hard on hoarders and profiteers, and to take legal steps against them along with NFA people responsible for the diversion of government-subsidized rice stocks to private traders.
She had also ordered the NFA to revoke the passports of some 10,000 licensed grains dealers accredited by the food agency and to re-accredit only those engaged in legitimate trading practices, and the DA to stake out NFA and private warehouses to prevent diversion of government-subsidized stocks.
The NFA is now selling not only government-subsidized rice but mid-priced commercial varieties as well at 25 a kilo, as part of the supervised selling strategy drawn up by the DA to stabilize the retail cost of the food staple for both low- and middle-income consumers.
The DA is tapping Catholic Church networks and local government units to help bring quality and affordable rice to the country's most hunger-prone provinces, and is also mobilizing LGUs to engage in palay production programs for the benefit of their respective constituents.
For its part, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has lifted the truck ban for perishable goods in Metro Manila in a bid to ensure food supplies in the metropolis. The DA is issuing permits to these truckers so LGUs and the police will no longer accost them on their way to urban markets.
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