Farmer Success Multiplied 2,000,000 Times – We Pinoys Can Do It!

“Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure,” says Mark Twain, one of my favorite American writers. I now challenge all the 101 gigil-na-gigil (teeth-gritting) critics of the PH Department of Agriculture (DA), from headship to followership: You debunk the claim by DA that “at least two million rice farmers are now reaping and enjoying the initial benefits under the (Duterte) government’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Program[1].” Ha, ha.

Written on the above image, here is the Facebook sharing of PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar:

On RCEF

We are pleased to report for the first two years of implementation of the RTL (Rice Tariffication Law) that created the RCEF (Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund), farmers are producing additional harvests, averaging 400 kilograms per hectare (kg/ha) or roughly eight cavans (at 50 kg each), which is equivalent to an additional income of P7,000 per hectare. This shows that with the use of certified seeds, adoption of modern technologies, and mechanizing land preparation, crop establishment and harvesting, farmers could attain incremental yields.

Average additional income of P7,000 from an added yield of 400 kg/ha; and success multiplied 2 million times – my congratulations to Mr Dar and all DA officers from Aparri to Jolo! Failures don’t lie, but successes figure more!

When you are a rice farmer, as a son of a rice farmer myself, I can say that an additional income of P7,000/ha for every growing season is very much welcome.

Note well that this was achieved by the farmers planting seeds certified by PhilRice – not simply their own selections of the heavier panicles at harvest time, a practice that my father did which his son, I thought was a wise move.

To be sure, the farmer assistances of the DA were in these 4 forms: Seeds, Mechanization, Credit, and Extension.

Seeds
With uncertified rice seeds, farmers can harvest an average of 3.6 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha); with certified seeds, they can produce at least 4 MT/ha, according to Dionisio Alvindia, Director of the National Integrated Rice Program. To date, 674,400 farmers have received from PhilRice 1.68 million bags of free certified inbred rice seeds, planted in 843,000 hectares in 948 RCEF municipalities nationwide. The quota is 40 kg/ha.

Mechanization
Not to forget, mechanization is a big factor in successful farming. The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development & Mechanization (PhilMech), has distributed P5-billion worth of farm machinery and equipment (FME) to qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), according to PhilMech Director Baldwin Jallorina. 13,499 units of FME have been distributed to as many FCAs, benefitting at least 1.35 million rice farmers.

Credit
P1.584 billion has been lent to hundreds of FCAs under the RCEF Program, served by the Land Bank of the Philippines, at P968 million, and Development Bank of the Philippines, P616 million.

Extension

Tens of thousands of individual farmers and FCAs benefited through workshops, technical briefings, and trainings of specialists, trainors, farmers, seed growers and inspectors, and other extension intermediaries.

All that explains how 2,000,000 rice farmers have benefitted much from the DA!@517

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[1]https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Department-of-Agriculture-of-Republic-of-P-nbsp-RCEF-enables-rice-farmers-to-produce-and-earn--32667258/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=googlenews&utm_content=20210311