MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon—The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) said it has initially chosen 23 groups to receive modern farm implements that were bankrolled by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
Carlene C. Collado, officer in charge of Department of Agriculture-Region 10, made the announcement during the 26th Farmers’ Field Day and Technology Forum in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
Of the initial batch of beneficiaries, Collado said 10 came from the province of Bukidnon.
Bukidnon is regarded as Davao region’s food basket due to the large tracts of farm lands in the province.
Among the farm implements distributed by the government to the beneficiaries were hand tractors, tillers, rice seeders, transplanters, irrigation pumps, mechanical dryers and rice mills.
He said these farm implements could be used not only for rice cultivation but also for planting other crops.
Collado said he is hopeful that more farmer-cooperatives from Bukidnon will qualify for RCEF-financed program of PhilMech, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.
“For local [farmers’] associations, which are interested [to avail themselves of RCEF], you may consult the PhilMech later for the policies and the IRR [implementing rules and regulation] of the program,” he said.
The creation of RCEF was mandated by Republic Act 11203, or the rice trade liberalization law, which removed the quantitative restriction on imports and converted these into tariffs.
Under the law, the P10-billion RCEF will come from tariffs collected from rice importers. Half of the RCEF will go to PhilMech for its farm mechanization program.
RA 11203, which took effect on March 5, limited the government’s intervention in the local rice market as it disallowed the National Food Authority from selling lower-priced rice.
The law also made it easier for traders to import rice as they only needed to secure sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from the Bureau of Plant Industry if they want to purchase it from abroad.