MikeLigalig.com

By Lilybeth G. Ison

A party-list lawmaker on Tuesday questioned the alleged lump sum allocation for the Department of Agriculture (DA) amounting to a whooping P17.6 billion in funds for "unclear and undetermined projects."

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said the lump sum allocation, which include the P5.2 billion funding for the nationwide implementation of the National Rice Program, "is vulnerable to corruption."

Mariano divulged to media the breakdown of the proposed P17 billion lump sum fund under DA for 2011 -- P50 million for the Young Farmers Program; P170 million for payment of right of way; P1.8 billion for the repair of irrigation facilities nationwide; P500 million for the Balikatan Sagip-Patubig; P250 million for the feasibility study and detailed engineering of various projects nationwide; P100 million for the so-called "4H club"; P5.217 billion for the National Rice Program; P483.6 billion for the National Corn Program; P2.5 billion for the repair, rehabilitation and construction of farm-to-market roads in key production areas; P926.8 million for the High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC); P682 million for the National Livestock Program; and P5 billion for the public-private partnership.

He said that while the DA was allocated with lump sum project allocations, "the government slashed and even proposed zero-budget for several attached agencies and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) which provide direct services and assistance to farmers."

Such agencies include the National Food Authority (NFA) which got a zero budget for next year as compared to the P8 billion budget for 2010; the National Tobacco Administration (NTA), which also got a zero budget for 2011 while it received a P115 million budget allocation for the year; the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (Quedancor), also has zero allocation for next year but received P190 million for 2010; the National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC) also has zero budget for next year but has P60 million for the year; and the National Agribusiness Corporation, who also has a zero budget allocation but received a P20 million budget for 2010.

On the other hand, Mariano said agencies that have slashed budget for 2011 according to the DA proposed budget for 2011 include the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) -- from P645 million this year, was down to P539.9 million for 2011; the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) -- from P214 million to P113.771 million.

He said the proposed budget of the DA for 2011 "will further worsen the rice crisis and food insecurity in the country."

"Unscrupulous rice traders operating the domestic rice cartel will have a heyday with NFA’s zero budget and intervention in the market through unjust rice pricing and manipulation," he noted.

Meanwhile, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) Director Romeo Recide, at the sidelines of the hearing of the committee on appropriations of the House of Representatives, said that as the agriculture sector failed to recover this year from the negative output for 2009 due to severe damages inflicted by tropical storms "Ondoy" and "Pepeng," the farm sector may post flat growth for 2011.

He said the damage was exacerbated during the first half of 2010 by the onslaught of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

"Previous events last year and this year will just even out, hence growth could be flat (in 2011), based on our estimate," the BAS director said.

"There's a long way for us to catch up, considering that output last year was negative. There could be a chance for positive growth but most likely it will be flat," he added.

Recide said various intervention measures are being implemented at the grassroots level to help the agriculture sector rebound.

Such intervention include the scrapping of the seed subsidy for the wet season after reallocating the remaining P1.3 billion from the rice program to other production interventions supporting the sufficiency program for the year.

The shift is in line with government’s "Agri Pinoy" program that is geared toward rice self-sufficiency by 2013.

According to the DA, the bulk of the P1.3 billion will be spent on irrigation, post-harvest, seed production assistance, organic production assistance, research and development, extension services, and production loans.

The Department of Budget and Management has slashed to P37.7 billion the proposed P58 billion budget requested by the agriculture department. (PNA)

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