Gov. Isidro Zayco said Negros Occidental will tap into initiatives under a P48.7-billion package outlined by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the National Food Summit at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga yesterday to stimulate agriculture in the face of a looming food crisis.

The governor said he brought Provincial Agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan to the summit so they could immediately take steps to avail of programs offered by the national government to also boost food production in Negros Occidental.

As this developed, 120,000 bags of rice from Vietnam arrived at the BREDCO port in Bacolod City yesterday to augment the buffer stock of Negros Occidental, NFA Bacolod Assistant Manager  Manuel Castañares said.

NFA is also implementing hunger mitigation programs and increasing its Tindahan Natins in Negros Occidental to make its lower priced rice available to the poor in compliance with the directive of the president, he added.

Arroyo, in her speech at the food summit, said half of the planet depends on rice but stocks are at their lowest since the mid 1970s when Bangladesh suffered a terrible famine. Rice production will fall this year below the global consumption level of 430 million tons, she said.

Since the global situation became apparent many months ago, Arroyo said she has been committed to helping increase and stabilize the supply of rice, as well as to deliver targeted subsidies to the poor who are most directly affected by the global price rises.

We have reached out to our neighbors in Vietnam and others in ASEAN to ensure stable rice supplies, she said.

FIELDS PROGRAM

The government, she said, is also  going to cluster the country’s  food production drive in six assistance packages, under a program called FIELDS that stands for F – fertilizer, I – irrigation and infrastructure, E – extension and education, L – loans and insurance, D – dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and  S – seeds.

Government will renew its push for organic fertilizer because the price of urea fertilizer, being oil-based, has increased 200 percent in the last two years, she said. We must set aside P500 million from the ACEF fund for fertilizer support and production, especially for organic fertilizers, the president added.

Arroyo said she is also directing the National Irrigation Authority to finish the rehabilitation of irrigation systems by 2010. Government will spend P6 billion a year on irrigation and P6 billion on infrastructure, including farm to market roads, roll-on-roll-off ferry ports, and no-frills airports for agricultural cargo, she said.

On extension and education, the president said government will allocate P2 billion in research and development, P1 billion in capability building, P1 billion in trainors and technicians and P1 billion in the agricultural and fisheries education system.

Government financial institutions can assure P15 billion available for agricultural credit, she also said, as she again called on Congress to enact a law making farm land acceptable as loan collateral.

On dryers and other post-harvest facilities, the president instructed  the DA to establish appropriate integrated processing and trading centers in collaboration with the private sector, saying the government will spend P2 billion on this.

The government will also set P2.7 billion for hybrid seeds and P6.5 billion for certified seeds for 5 harvests from 2009 until 2010, she said.

“In all these programs, we must be transparent. We will work to fix the corruption that still plagues our nation, including in the agri-business sector. We especially prohibit officials from dealing with fertilizer brokers and agents. They can only deal with official distributors in the regions and provinces,” she said.

The president said, considering that farm spending may now be bigger than defense spending, a Deputy Ombudsman for agriculture may have to  be appointed.

IN NEGROS

Under a joint NFA-Department of Education program we are distributing 42,000 bags or rice to public primary school and grade 1 pupils  throughout Negros Occidental as part of the national government’s hunger mitigation programs, Castañares said.

Under a NFA-Department of Social Welfare and Development program   55,000 bags of rice is also expected to be distributed to day care centers in various parts of Negros Occidental, he added.

The NFA rice that is sold at P18.25 a kilo is available in 20 Bigasan sa Parokya outlets of the three Roman Catholic dioceses, 93 Bigasan sa Palenke stores and 286 Tinadahan Natins throughout the province, he said.

And 120 more Tindahan Natins spread out in depressed areas throughout Negros Occidental are set to be open, Castañares said.

While NFA rice sells at P18.25, commercial regular milled rice is now selling from P22 to 27 a kilo, and well milled rice at P28 to 32 a kilo, he added.

National Bureau of Investigation Negros chief, Mamerto Cortez, said his office was waiting for the operational guidelines on how it can assist the NFA in preventing rice hoarding, but said anytime their services are needed by the grains agency they will be ready.

Castañares said, so far, there have been no reports of rice hoarding in the province since Negros Occidental is a supply importer.

The province mostly imports rice from Mindoro, Iloilo, Albay and  Bicol, he said.*CPG

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