The P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) was aimed at improving local rice farmers’ competitiveness amid the liberalized rice trade policy due to the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL). However, declining budget utilization is hounding the fund since its inception in 2019.
A farmer and his grandson work in a paddy field in Baliuag, Bulacan on July 10, 2022. Maria Tan/ AFP
The RCEF is divided among four key programs: namely rice farm mechanization , seed propagation , rice credit assistance , and extension services . “In short, the budget got compounded. Likewise, the pandemic largely restricted immediate machine distribution and rapid disbursement of funds during the first half of project implementation,“ PhilMech said.
For the seed program component, from 2020 to 2023, the DA has distributed 14.08 million bags of seeds, comprising 91% of its target. The Development Bank of the Philippines, meanwhile, released P1,433,224,869.00 to 24 cooperatives and 16 individual farmers.
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