Iminungkahi ni Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte sa Department of Agriculture ang isang subsidy program para maisakatuparan ang P20 kada kilo na bigas ng administrasyong Marcos.
Umaasa si Villafuerte na ikonsidera ng bagong Agriculture Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel ang pagbibigay ng P40,000 kada ektarya na subsidiya sa target farmer-beneficiaries mula sa top 10 palay-producing provinces.
Kapalit nito, bibilhin ng gobyerno ang kanilang ani sa halagang P9 kada kilo o kabuuang P45 billion.
1.5 billion kilo nito ay pwede ibenta sa halagang P20 kada kilo sa mahihirap na pamilya at ang kalahati ay P30 kada kilo.
“Contrary to the contention of our agriculture officials that selling rice at P20 a kilo, although possible, cannot happen in the near future, market rates of P20 and P30 a kilo are actually doable starting next year, if we were to adopt now a novel palay productivity program involving the grant of a pre-planting subsidy of P40,000 per hectare to target farmer-beneficiaries tilling a total of a million hectares in our 10 biggest palay-producing provinces, but on condition that these farmers sell their produce to the government at P9 a kilo,” sabi ni Villafuerte.
“With a projected total yield of 5 billion kg of palay from the one million ha, based on an average output of 5 MT or 5,000 kg per hectare, this novel subsidy-cum-contract-growing proposal will translate into 3 billion kg of rice, at the palay-to-rice, after-milling conversion rate of 60%,” dagdag ng kinatawan.
Maliban sa subsidiya, para mas maengganyo pang magtanim ang mga magsasaka ay pinabibigyan din ng sila ng cash prize at iba pang insentibo.
Kalaunan ay maaari na rin aniyang i-roll out sa iba pang probinsya ang naturang programa.
“Thus, at the end of this undertaking, the government will have spent just P10 billion in subsidies for the rice productivity program—in lieu of the current P40 billion—after collecting P75 billion in rice sales and deducting this amount from the P85 billion set aside for the farmers’ subsidy-and-grains-procurement plan,” wika ni Villafuerte. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
