MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is allocating P2.5 billion for a loan program which aims to change the process of procuring rice seed varieties.
The National Rice Productivity Loaning program allows local farmers to have freer options in choosing the plant that will produce the best yield.
“This program is expected to give a farmer a greater leeway in selecting the kind of seeds, provided these are certified seeds, that he would use in his farm and buy these at the time he needs them, instead of waiting for the free rice seeds from government,” said Agriculture Secretary Manuel Pinol.
The proposed loanable amount is P15,000 per hectare which will cover the cost of the certified seeds or hybrid seeds costing about P4,000 per hectare and 10 bags of inorganic or organic fertilizers.
It will be non-collateral with a six percent annual interest loan payable in two years and can be released within five days after application.
The program, which will be handled by the DA-attached agency Agricultural Credit Policy Council, is targeted to be implemented by next year.
It will also include a crop insurance coverage by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. and a medical insurance under PhilHealth.
Under the present set-up, the procurement process takes about three to four months and by the time the rice seeds are distributed, the farmers have either finished planting their fields using local rice seeds or the germination rate of the distributed seeds is low that farmers end up milling it for their consumption.
“The rice seeds and fertilizer program of government is flawed, rife with corruption, a waste of government funds and does not contribute to greater productivity,” Pinol said.
Pinol earlier eyed the reorganization of the procurement process of seeds where it should not be covered by the ordinary procurement process and laws since hybrid seeds are area-specific.
The existing government policy on procurement is accepted to be “lowest bidder wins” and is based on the Government Procurement Reform Act of 2003.
“With the ordinary process, we will be tied to who the lowest bidder will be, but we are after the result and the farmers know better,” Piñol said.
“Unlike other commodities being bought by the government, rice seeds are dependent on specific soil type and climatic conditions and should not be approached in a very generic way,” he added.
