Print Page - D.A. News Updates:

March 2, 2008 - D.A. sets Pre-Food Summit Regional Workshop in the Visayas
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will stage in Cebu this week the Visayan and last leg of the regional consultations with local chief executives and private sector stakeholders in preparation for the national food summit that the Arroyo administration is holding in April to harmonize all initiatives to sustain the growth momentum of the farm sector over the next three years.

Venue of the daylong forum is the Crown Regency Suite in Cebu City. Similar consultative meetings were also held at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga on Feb. 19 and at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon City on Feb. 22 for the respective stakeholders in Luzon and Metro Manila, while those for Mindanaoans were conducted on Feb. 26 at the Grand Caprice Hotel in Cagayan De Oro City and on Feb. 29 at the APO View Hotel in Davao City.

These regional meetings are underway in preparation for the National Food Summit at the Manila Hotel -Tent, which President Arroyo had ordered the DA to host on April 4 in order to attune all farm-related government programs to her administration’s objectives of “Pagkain sa bawat mesa-Laban sa kahirapan” and “Negosyo sa Sakahan-Laban sa kahirapan.”

The regional forums are patterned after the multisectoral consultative session that the DA held with over agriculture and fisheries leaders at the Seameo-Innotech in Quezon City in May last year.

Attended by over 100 sectoral and agribusiness leaders, this May 2007 workshop at Seameo-Innotech enabled the Department craft a slew of intervention measures that buoyed farm yields and perked up exports despite the dry spell in the second half of the year. As a result, the farm sector grew by a stronger-than-expected 4.68%, thereby helping drive the 2007 gross domestic product to 7.3%, or the highest in 31 years.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said “these regional consultations are necessary for the DA to consolidate the main agriculture-related issues and concerns at the national and local levels, and then identify the government intervention measures plus food-sufficiency initiatives and budgets needed to keep the farm sector on its high growth course in the medium term.”

The DA’s National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC), led by Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla, is the lead agency in these regional consultations, which the DA is sponsoring in cooperation with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA); and the Departments of Agrarian Reform (DAR), of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and of Science and Technology (DOST).

Yap said the action plans to be drawn up in these regional consultations will have to complement the DA’s five-pillar program that focuses on higher spending on irrigation and rural infrastructure, on postharvest facilities, and on research and development or R&D and extension work; widening the access to rural credit; and finding more local and foreign markets for Philippine products.

President Arroyo ordered the DA last January to conduct the food summit with the end view of crafting a comprehensive program for rural development for the remainder of her term, he said.

Following the President’s directive, he said, the DA has invited an array of representatives of farmers and fishers organizations, industry and professional associations, sectoral groups like consumers and transport organizations, academe and regional development councils to the April summit.

He said that the central areas of concern in the would-be summit cover five commodity clusters, namely, rice, corn, high-value commercial crops or HVCCs, livestock and poultry, and fisheries and aquaculture.

“This upcoming food summit aims to spawn doable action programs between now and 2010 that dovetail with the Department’s five-pillar growth agenda and address the emerging global challenges such as climate change, surging food demand by fast-growing economies like China and India, and the deepening clash in certain countries between crop production for food and biofuel feedstock,” Yap said.

“President Arroyo just recently directed us at the DA to host such a summit so we can mobilize all sectors in crafting action agenda in pursuit of our mandate to focus on food and jobs, as provided for in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan or MTPDP,” he added.

“Through this planned summit,” he said, “we hope to harmonize the major initiatives of the national and local governments with those of the private sector that pertain to raising farm yields, attracting investments and creating jobs in the countryside, and stabilizing the supply and prices of basic foodstuff.” ###

March 7, 2008 - Yap allays fears of possible food crisis
Secretary Arthur Yap has allayed fears of a looming food crisis, saying that Filipino consumers can expect enough supply of rice this year as good weather in the first semester plus the intensive intervention programs of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will help Government hit its 2008 production target of a record 17.33 million metric tons (MT).

Yap said the DA is optimistic that this production target—equivalent to a national self-sufficiency level of 92 %—can be met, given field reports that the palay-planting schedules and area coverage for the summer crop season are on track and the onset of the La Nina phenomenon, which will benefit farmers growing the grains in over a million hectares of rainfed areas nationwide.

“I do not see a food crisis, which means an absence of food or rationing and food lines,” he said in a press briefing. “I do not see that on the basis of the food production that has been programmed, and the onset of La Nina that will bring rain to a lot of our rainfed areas.”

Moreover, he said, President Arroyo has already secured a commitment from Vietnam , one of the world’s largest rice exporters, to sell to us a still-undetermined volume to help fill the Philippines ’ national requirement for the staple.

Yap said that one area of concern, though, is the spike in the cost of the staple arising from spiraling prices in the world market, which, in turn, was brought about by such factors as swelling demand by fast-growing economies and harvest slumps triggered by climate change.

“Demand is growing but supply is not catching up that much because of climate change,” he said. “We have to accept na nagbabago talaga ang klima (that climate is changing).”

He said the government will address this pricing woe by, among others, putting on the fast-track the establishment of more bagsakan or drop-off points in urban markets along with barangay food terminals or BFTs, as a way to guarantee the access of ordinary consumers to quality but more affordable rice and other foodstuff.

Yap said the initial reports he has gotten from the field is that the DA’s Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program is on track in its first-quarter planting and harvest targets, although he hastened to add he will have to verify these preliminary field reports.

“The reports I have been getting initially for the first quarter for 2008 indicate that we are going to meet our target, although I still have to verify these initial field reports submitted to me,” he said.

Pointing out the difference between demand and supply gaps, he said what is happening now in the country is a “price gap,” because “all over the world there is really a constriction in supply, which is driving up the prices of local grains. And because this global situation is “driving up the prices of local grains,” he added, “we have to somehow pay the correct price for the staple and it would increase the income of our farmers.”

In last month’s Leaders Briefing by the DA for the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), an official of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that the La Nina phenomenon will last till June this year.

Because of Pagasa’s forecast of favorable weather, Yap told reporters that the DA hopes total harvests to exceed 7 million MT in the first semester, or higher than last year’s output of 6.8 million MT.

“I will not say I am overly confident, but when one of the production factors is good weather, and then there is strong indication for production to cross the 7-million MT mark for the first half of the year,” he said.

In the same LMP briefing, an executive of the Laguna-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said that palay harvests have reached a “plateau” in many countries, leading to a nearly 100% jump in global rice prices to close to $400 per MT over the past five years.

IRRI Social Sciences Division chief Randy Barker had traced the price spike to production slowdowns; climate changes; rising fertilizer and diesel prices; overexploitation of water resources; the recent diversification into non-rice crops and loss of lands for palay planting; uncertainties in the global market; and the traders’ tendency to hoard stocks in anticipation of possible supply shortages.

Yap had informed over 40 provincial chapter heads of the LMP led by its president, Mayor Ramon Guico of Binalonan, Pangasinan, in the same briefing session that the DA hopes to hurdle this global threat by carrying out a package of intervention measures designed to raise crop harvests to historic peaks and enable Government to sustain the growth momentum of the agriculture sector.

He said the DA will expand areas planted with certified seeds to 600,000 hectares of rainfed lowlands and low-yielding irrigated sites, as part of the President’s Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program, and will implement location-specific intervention measures like providing farmers with Bio-N, Zinc Sulfate and other soil ameliorants.

A third cropping season under the DA’s Quick-Turnaround (QTA) program will cover 100,000 hectares of fully irrigated areas this year using hybrid and certified seeds, he said, and another 60,000 areas of restored or newly irrigated areas will also be planted to hybrid and inbred seeds.###

March 8, 2008 - D.A. eyeing 3rd planting after summer harvests under QTA program
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is poised to advance after the summer harvests its third cropping season for palay under its quick turnaround program to take advantage of the weather bureau’s forecast of the La Nina phenomenon lasting till mid-2008.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said that instead of last year’s mode of inserting a third planting after the wet season under the QTA, the Department will encourage farmers to plant a second crop immediately after the harvest during the first half of the dry season.

Yap noted that the forecast by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), as conveyed last week by its weather services chief Nathaniel Cruz during the DA’s Leaders’ Briefing for the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), showed that rains triggered by La Nina would last until the first half of the year.

This PAGASA forecast means there will be adequate water for more than a million hectares of rainfed areas planted to palay, he said.

“So we might advance the QTA. Our farmers can plant after harvesting during summer before we go the main wet cropping season,” Yap said.

Yap raised this possibility after Cruz pointed out during the Leaders’ Briefing at the Century Park Hotel in Manila that La Nina conditions prevailing across the tropical Pacific Ocean have intensified, from moderate to strong, towards the end of January this year.

Based on recent equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature trends and model forecasts, Cruz had said that PAGASA predicts that the La Nina episode in the country could last until June or August this year.

Yap had earlier announced that the DA was institutionalizing the QTA program as a long-term strategy to raise palay yields by at least 20% annually and enable the government to attain national self-sufficiency in this staple.

The insertion of a third planting season last year through the QTA in some 100,000 hectares in the Visayas and Mindanao had offset crop losses in four Luzon regions hit by the dry spell—and helped the DA drive the farm sector to a better-than-forecasted growth of 4.68%. This strong performance, in turn, had helped the gross domestic product expand by a 30-year-high of 7.3% in 2007.

The QTA program for 2007 managed to raise harvests of palay to 350,000 MT and of corn to 200,000 MT more, defying earlier forecasts that last year’s dry spell would pull down crop yields, particularly in the four palay-growing regions buffeted by the climate change.

Yap noted that the adoption of the QTA program will help the Department achieve a national rice self-sufficiency level of 92%, which will help fulfill President Arroyo’s “Pagkain sa Bawat Mesa-Laban sa Kahirapan” goal.

During the DA briefing for over 40 LMP executives, Yap said that the government is carrying out a package of intervention measures anchored on the massive use of high-yield seeds, irrigation of drought-prone areas and opening up of new areas for palay as a way to raise crop harvests to historic peaks and enable the DA sustain the growth momentum of the farm sector this year and onwards.

Yap said that the DA is targeting a 6.67% increase in palay harvests this year to an all-time high of 17.33 million metric tons (MT).

The DA is bullish on hitting, if not even surpassing, its production targets for rice in 2008 despite the emerging challenges to Philippine agriculture, such as shrinking harvests and spiraling food prices in the global market, the swelling demand for food by fast-rising economies like China and India, and the emerging clash in certain parts of the world between crop production for food and for biofuel feedstock because of the unwavering commitment of President Arroyo to agricultural and fisheries modernization, Yap said.

He also cited the continued support by LGUs and all other stakeholders in the private sector for the intervention measures that the DA has been undertaking—and will continue to undertake—to keep the farm sector on its high growth course.

Last year, total palay production reached 16.24 million MT, or 5.96% above the previous year’s level of 15.33 million MT, despite the dry spell that extended up to July and the series of typhoons during the 4th quarter.

Yap noted that in the 4th quarter of 2007, palay production registered a remarkable 10.11% increase owing to the implementation of a third cropping, mostly in Mindanao , through the DA’s QTA and planting of certified seeds under rainfed-lowland and low-yielding irrigated areas. ###

March 6, 2008 - US, Japan remain top export markets for RP farm goods
The United States and Japan remain as the top export markets for Philippine agricultural products, with coconut products along with tropical fruits and tuna as the leading commodities being sold overseas, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said that from January to November last year alone, agricultural exports worth $3.63 billion reached 8.4 million metric tons, with the Philippines’ “Top 10” farm commodities representing 53% or $1.9 billion of the total export earnings.

Data from the DA’s Export Development Team led by Undersecretary Berna Romulo Puyat showed that the United States was last year’s No. 1 destination for Philippine agricultural exports, as sales to that country reached $604.4 million for the January-November period.

The US was followed by Japan with $386.3 million of farm goods bought from the Philippines. The Netherlands, with $230.4 million; Korea, $168.4 million; and Thailand $ $96.08 million, complete the “Top 5” destinations for Philippine agricultural products for the said 11-month period.

Puyat reported that coconut oil was the country’s top export, with $626.4 million worth of this commodity sold overseas, followed by fresh bananas, $363 million; pineapple and pineapple products, $223.9 million; tuna $182 million; and dessicated coconut $146.6 million.

Processed tropical fruits, which posted sales of $134.4 million; seaweeds and carageenan, $82.7 million; sugar, $77 million, prawns and shrimps, $66.1 million; and copra oil cake, $37.6 million, round up the Philippines’ “Top 10” agricultural exports for 2007, Puyat said.

The DA’s aggressive efforts to strengthen existing export markets and tap new ones for agricultural products form part of its Five-Pillar program, which comprise higher public spending on (1) infrastructure, (2) technology and extension services, and (3) postharvest and storage facilities; and (4) expanding access to rural credit, and (5) opening new markets here and overseas for Philippine agro-fishery products.

Yap said this program to sustain and accelerate farm growth and raise the profitability of agriculture for its small stakeholders is in compliance with the mandate set by President Arroyo for the DA under her Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan, which is to focus on food security and job generation.

Unmatched spending by President Arroyo on agriculture and fisheries enabled the farm sector to grow by 4.68% last year, thereby helping the Gross Domestic Product hit a 30-year-high growth of 7.4%, Yap said.

Yap said the farm sector will greatly benefit from the recent directive by President Arroyo for a “surge” in infrastructure buildup—which will include higher investments in irrigation works and postharvest facilities—as a way to sustain the high growth of the domestic economy and insulate it from a feared recession in the US arising from the subprime credit crisis.

Last year, the DA’s Export Development Team was able to book a total of $749 million in sales and orders for Philippine fresh and processed food items through its participation in trade shows and missions in the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Thailand, United States, Canada, New Zealand and Russia.

The DA has also secured the assurance of Australian authorities to continue its review of its import risk analysis for the Philippine tropical fruits, the last remaining stumbling block to the entry of the country’s mangoes, bananas and pineapples in the highly lucrative Australian market. ###

March 9, 2008 - GMA taking decisive steps vs rural poverty, global warming
WASHINGTON—President Arroyo has taken decisive steps to attack rural poverty in the Philippines and at the same time contribute to the snowballing campaign against global warming by cashing-in on the booming biofuels sector, said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap in an international energy forum here.

Alongside signing a law mandating the pre-blending of coco-biodiesel or ethanol in regular fuel and providing incentives to new players in the biofuels industry, Yap told the recent Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) that President Arroyo has also embarked on a massive rural infrastructure build-up to set the stage for a local business environment more conducive to the development of this sunrise industry.

Yap also underscored the bigger role that first-world economies which consume petroleum the most—and thus emit the largest volumes of greenhouse gases—must play in reducing such toxic-waste emissions, and in taking swifter action to address this worsening problem that has triggered economically-disruptive climate changes across the globe.

He told the over 1000 WIREC participants that the world’s economies now capitalizing on the production of alternative, eco-friendly fuels must never sacrifice the need for food and sustenance of their respective citizens in favor of the ballooning global appetite for plant-based crops for biofuel conversion.

This emerging conflict in certain economies between the use of food crops for human consumption and for biofuels feedstock conversion is a non-issue in the Philippines, said Yap, because the government has given—and will always give—top priority to crop production for human consumption, in keeping with the medium-term food security and self-sufficiency goals of President Arroyo.

Yap was one of five chosen speakers during the March 5 plenary session of the WIREC on Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development plenary session of the WIREC. He had spoken ahead of US President Bush during this conference, which was attended by more than a thousand representatives, including 96 senior ministers, from 130 countries.

The other speakers to the conference, included recently-confirmed US Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer; Marcos Jank, the president and CEO of the Brazilian Sugar Cane Industry Association; Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki; and Robert Lane, CEO of John Deere and Co.

He had attended the energy forum along with Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes.
Yap told the participants that President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9367 last year, which gave deadlines for the calibrated pre-blending of gasoline sold by oil stations with 10% ethanol, and of diesel with 2% coco methyl ester (CME) or coco-biodiesel.

As an incentive to private business, he said that RA 9367 exempted local or imported biofuels “component” from sales taxes while the acquisition of raw material used in biofuel conversion was exempted from the payment of the value-added tax.

March 01, 2008 - Yap cites new law extending ACEF
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has said that Philippine agriculture will get a needed infusion of P6-billion in extra funds this year alone following President Arroyo’s recent signing of a law extending the life of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) to 2015.

Yap lauded Congress for earlier passing the ACEF-extension bill—and President Arroyo for signing it into law last week—as he noted that had the legislature and executive branches failed to act swiftly on the measure, this program would have expired in end-2007 and led to the turnover to the National Treasury of P6-billion in ACEF subsidies otherwise intended for projects meant to sharpen the global competitiveness of Filipino farmers.

“On behalf of the Philippine agriculture sector, we would like to thank the President and Congress for having extended ACEF by eight years,” Yap said.

We are mindful that the ACEF was enacted into law and the fund was created as a response to the safety-net demand of our agriculture sector when it was opened up to global free trade during the term of President Ramos. I believe the fund, if properly utilized and used significantly for food processing, value adding, and postharvest facilities, has a potential to modernize Philippine agriculture. So we welcome very much the extension of the law.”

He said the extension of ACEF, which was originally due to expire in December 2007, would go a long way in helping Malacañang attain its objectives of “Negosyo sa Sakahan-Laban sa Kahirapan” and “Pagkain sa Bawat Mesa-Laban sa Kahirapan.”

The new law, which was originally House Bill No. 2976 or “An Act to Extend the Utilization Period of the ACEF,” was signed by President Arroyo last Wednesday during the Mindanao Cluster Congress of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) at the Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City.

This bill was fully supported by Palawan Rep. Abraham Kahlil Mitra and Senator and former agriculture secretary Edgardo Angara. Mitra and Angara are the respective heads of the House and Senate committees on agriculture.

Both chambers passed the Mitra and Angara ACEF bill before adjourning last December for the traditional yearend recess of Congress.

The new law amended Republic Act No. 8178, otherwise known as “An Act Replacing Quantitative Import Restrictions on Agricultural Products Except Rice with Tariffs, and Creating the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF).”

“ACEF’s extension is crucial to the attainment of the goal of the Department of Agriculture (DA) goal to help small farmers move beyond primary agriculture and into value-added higher-earning enterprises, because it will mean additional resources for the farm sector between now and 2015,” he said.

He said the extended ACEF program will also be a key element in helping the DA significantly reduces postharvest losses that cut back on agricultural productivity and farm incomes, thereby “dovetailing with the DA’s objective of not only boosting agricultural productivity but improving as well the profitability of farming and fishing, especially for its small stakeholders.”

“The unreleased ACEF balance and its unremitted amount would have been transferred to the general fund of the government without the enactment of an amendatory law stretching the life of this program by eight more years,” Yap sad.

ACEF consists of all the duties collected from the importation of agricultural products under the minimum access volume (MAV) mechanism, he said.

He said that the Fund’s entire proceeds are earmarked exclusively by Congress for irrigation, farm-to-market roads, postharvest facilities, credit, research and development, retraining, extension services and marketing infrastructure in the agriculture sector.

Following the passage of this ACEF extension law, Yap said the DA is now urging Congress to pass other bills restructuring the National Food Authority; plugging loopholes in the agrarian-reform credit and financing system for agrarian reform beneficiaries through banking institutions; and creating the Magna Carta for agricultural workers.

Yap added that the DA is also backing bills establishing a land use code and creating a Trade Representative Office to help unify the government’s fragmented approach to trade. ###

February 29, 2008 - D.A. swiftly contains rice bug infestation
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has swiftly placed under control the rice black bug (RBB) infestation in one of the isolated municipalities of Isabela, preventing the spread of the pest in other palay fields in the province and elsewhere in the region.

In a report to Secretary Arthur Yap, Dr. Andrew Villacorta, the Department’s regional coordinator for the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Rice Program in Cagayan Valley, said that DA laboratories in the region are now mass producing Metarhizium, a bio-control agent against RBB for distribution to farmers in order to reverse the spread of this palay pest.

On top of these measures, the DA is also undertaking a massive information campaign to educate farmers on how to control the spread of the RBB in the province.
The RBB infestation in the coastal town of Dinapigue in Isabela was first reported by Municipal Agriculturist Carmelo Abalos early in January.

Upon learning of the presence of the RBB in the coastal town, DA regional officials quickly sent a team from the Regional Crop Protection Center to verify the extent of the infestation and formed a Multi-Agency RBB Task Force to carry out monitoring, surveillance and quarantine measures to contain and eradicate the pest.

In his report to Yap, Villacorta said that 36 hectares of RBB-infested rice lands in Isabela have already been treated to prevent the spread of the pest.

“The infestation in Dinapigue, which is a coastal town at the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains and can be reached via the province of Quirino for about 10-12 hours trip by land, is an isolated case and is now under control,” Villacorta said. “A quarantine checkpoint was also set-up in Nagtipunan, Quirino, the entry point between Aurora and Quirino to regulate the possible entry of an alternate RBB host.”

In September last year, the DA also swiftly carried out measures to check the spread of the coconut leaf beetle, an invasive coconut pest scientifically known as the Brontispa longgissima.

Senator Edgardo Angara, who chairs the Senate food and agriculture committee and himself a former agriculture secretary, had commended Yap and the DA for swiftly and decisively addressing this grave threat to the P40-billion domestic coconut industry.

Angara noted that Yap’s move to involve the local government units in the ongoing efforts to contain and eradicate the Brontispa pest was critical to the success of this program.
Earlier in July last year, the DA was also able to quickly respond to the outbreak of the hog cholera and other swine diseases that had struck a few farms in Bulacan and Pampanga.

The DA’s swift response to pest and disease outbreaks form part of Yap’s marching orders to Department officials this year to meet the twin challenges of creating jobs and producing food for Filipinos, which are the primary objectives of President Arroyo’s mandate for the DA under the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan of her administration.

Besides disease prevention, containment and eradication, Yap said the DA will accomplish these primary objectives through the following components: better seed or species, and farm and fishery technologies, science, research and biotechnology; extension and training; weather tracking, disaster prevention and management, soil and water conservation, including marine and aquaculture resources; market access, product standards, packaging, promotions, trade and international negotiations; logistics, transport and postharvest facilities; and, finance and insurance.

Yap had told his fellow DA officials that they should undertake these interventions with urgency in compliance with the overriding goal of President Arroyo to rapidly bring the benefits of economic growth directly to the people, and leave a lasting legacy that will be felt by small farmers, fisherfolk and other rural agri-fishery stakeholders.

He traced last year’s strong performance of the agriculture sector despite the dry spell mainly to the move by President Arroyo to raise public spending on rural infrastructure like irrigation and postharvest facilities to a record high, brought about by the dramatic turnaround of the economy on her watch.

Yap said that 2007’s unequaled public investments in the farm sector will be replicated this year as President Arroyo already ordered a surge in infrastructure and social spending this year to jump-start economic growth and protect the domestic economy from the feared recession in the United States brought about by its real estate lending woes.###

February 27, 2008 - Garin orders moratorium on cutting of coconut trees effective March 10
Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator Oscar G. Garin has ordered a moratorium on the issuances of Permits to Cut Coconut Trees (PCCTs) and the corresponding Transport/Transshipment Clearances (TTCs) except on limited exceptions pursuant to PCA Board Resolution 02-008 effective March 10, 2008.

Taking into consideration the plight of would be displaced traders, and to give them ample time to seek alternate livelihood sources, Administrator Garin has declared a transition period before the effectivity date. Those entitled to the transitory provisions will only be those with permits approved on or before February 19, 2008.

“We will implement this moratorium to once and for all arrest the ever increasing and unabated incidence of illegal cutting” Garin declared underscoring the need for stricter regulations to stop the illicit practices of unscrupulous coconut lumber traders in circumventing Republic Act 8048 or the law on illegal coconut tree cutting.

Under Memorandum Circular No. 02-2008 issued by the Administrator on February 12, 2008, all issuances of PTTCs and TTCs are ordered suspended nationwide except on limited exceptions - for typhoon-damaged coconut trees in declared typhoon calamity areas; for trees which pose threat and danger to life, limb and property; for areas duly authorized for conversion; and for personal use of the farmer for family housing or animal shed which should not exceed five trees.

The memorandum likewise restricts the transportation of coconut lumber within the provincial territorial limits only, and with the use only of a four-wheeler vehicle such as jeepney, pick-up or flatbed “elf” and the likes, with a maximum load capacity of two thousand board feet of coconut lumber approximately from 20 coconut trees.

“One major objective is to discourage long distance hauling to allow law enforcers to easily identify the illegal transport of coco lumber.” Garin stressed as he declares an intensified nationwide campaign against illegal coconut tree cutting.

Garin warned that violators of Republic Act 8048 and the rules and regulations issued by the PCA carry the stiff punishment of one (1) to six (6) years of imprisonment, or a fine of Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000), or both in the discretion of the court.

“The conservation of existing coconut trees is paramount to our objective of increasing coconut production to meet the growing demand for coconut products” Garin explained in exhorting all stakeholders to support the country’s coconut conservation efforts. He is enjoining the public to report to the nearest PCA office sightings of coco lumber loaded on more than four wheelers.

December 29, 2007 - Malunggay in the City, DA launched urban farming program
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) launched an urban farming program designed to empower urban poor communities through farming malunggay to fight hunger poverty and malnutrition.

A joint project of the DA, Aktibong Kapatiran Tungo sa Iisang Bayan (AKTIB) and the Asian Center for Grassroots Communication and Advocacy (Asian Grassroots), the program aims to promote the backyard planting of malunggay, in the city.

Scientifically known as moringa oleifera lamk, malunggay leaves are naturally rich in vitamins C and A, calcium, protein, iron and potassium.

The DA has identified a total of 14 barangays in five cities and one municipality in Metro Manila as pilot areas for the project, which Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said would also be launched in urban poor communities in Metro Iloilo, Metro Davao, Metro Naga and other metropolitan areas in the Philippines including Zamboanga del Norte, the poorest province in the country according to a study of the National Statistics Coordination Board in 2006.

The planting of malunggay will initially be carried out in Barangays Commonwealth, Payatas and Pinyahan in Quezon City; Barangays Bagong Silang, Camarin, Tala Bukid Area and Malaria in Caloocan City; Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City; Barangay San Antonio in Makati City; Barangay Nanca and Parang in Marikina City; and Barangay Sta. Ana in the Municipality of Pateros.

Through the program, urban poor communities in the Quezon City, Caloocan City, Mandaluyong City, Makati City, Marikina City and Pateros under AKTIB will receive malunggay seedlings from the DA to help them achieve better quality of life and better health brought about by the crop nutritional value and health a greener urban communities.

Malunggay has great agri-business potential. Powdered malunggay leaves are now being used for the biofortification of noodles, soups, bread and other snacks, while the seeds, using biotechnology, can produce pure and multipurpose oil.

The launching of Malunggay in the City made possible through the cooperation of the DA-Biotechnology Program Office (BPO), the Biotechnology for Life Media and Advocacy Resource Center, Asian Grassroots and AKTIB, is one of the highlights of this year celebration of the annual National Biotechnology Week, to be held every last week of November starting this year, as mandated by the President in Proclamation 1414. (biolife news service)

December 29, 2007 - DA promotes beverage from malunggay
Here’s a new refreshing way of consuming the lowly malunggay vegetable.

Following the massive campaign of the several health benefits form malunggay, a line of malunggay-based products have been released in the market. There is the malunggay oil for cooking, which can be used as an alternative to olive oil; the malunggay powder that can be used as flavoring or additive to pre-processed food products such as noodles and pandesal; malunggay tablets are also made as a health supplement.

Still, the list of malunggay-based products are growing because of the nutrients that can be derived from the vegetable, hence the innovation of refreshments from malunggay.

After the discovery of a Japanese businessman on the health benefits from malunggay, Mr. Mitsuo Shoji developed the malunggay tea, which he claims can cure many human diseases. Malunggay in tea bags are now widely sold in the market by companies in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Dr. Edwin Balbarino of the Visayas State University reported that malunggay juice is extracted from the leaves of the vegetable in Leyte. The extract is mixed with lemonsito juice to produce iced candies or cold drinks for children who normally do not like eating vegetables.

The malunggay, also termed as moringa, is a vitamin rich vegetable, and contains protein, iron and potassium. It contains anti-oxidants that suppress the activities of free-radicals, which causes cell death.

As part of its campaign to combat poverty, malnutrition and other health disorders, the Department of Agriculture (DA) promotes the planting and consumption of moringa. Malunggay can be planted around using seeds and cuttings. The development of malunggay- based products and its commercialization is likewise promoted by DA. ####

December 30, 2007 - 2007 Performance of NFA focused on helping stakeholders and the poor
The National Food Authority winded up its year-end performance with an assurance of better income for rice farmers and a stable supply of affordable and quality rice for consumers.

NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro said the NFA was able to provide farmers higher profits from their produce following President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's directive to increase the agency's support price from P10 to P11 per kilogram for clean and dry palay. The increase took effect in October this year.

On top of the support price, individual farmers who sold their produce to the agency also got additional P0.25 per kg as incentive for drying and delivery. For farmers cooperatives, another P0.25 per kg was granted as Cooperative Development Incentive Fund (CDIF). This translates the NFA's effective buying rate to P11.25 per kg for individual farmers and P11.50 for farmer organizations.

Also effective November 19, the NFA granted an additional P0.50 per kg of palay sold to the agency as La Niña incentive for individual farmers and farmer cooperatives during the agency's procurement operations until March 31, 2008. The PAGASA projected La Niña to last until the first quarter of next year.

Navarro said the increase in NFA's support price boosted the agency's palay procurement especially during the latter part of the year. This is aside from serving as price push mechanism for the farm gate price of palay which went up to an average of P12.18 per kilogram during the middle of December.

He also reported that NFA's monthly rice distribution shows the consumers preference for government rice as the agency exceeded its rice distribution target.

"As of middle of December, NFA's rice distribution reached 35.5 million bags or four million bags higher than the 31.5 million-bag target," Navarro cited.

The NFA distributed rice through its 3,709 Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke, 7,918 Tindahan Natin rice outlets, 197 Tindahan ni Gloria rolling stores and through its nationwide network of 20,233 accredited and licensed rice retailers. NFA rice is being sold at P18.25 per kg nationwide.

Meanwhile, through its active involvement in the government's hunger mitigation and poverty alleviation program in coordination with other agencies, the NFA also helped in uplifting the economic condition of the poor.

Navarro cited that the Tindahan Natin outlets were specifically established in depressed communities to sell NFA rice along with other basic commodities at affordable prices. "The NFA has already reached 97 percent accomplishment out of 8,140 TN outlets targeted to be established nationwide," he added.

Cumulative rice sales at TN outlets nationwide has already reached 3.8 million bags until mid-December amounting to P3.1 billion. The NFA and the Department of Social Welfare and Development jointly implement the program.

Navarro also stressed that the NFA has consistently been able to ensure food security and stability of rice supplies and prices in areas affected by calamities. For this year, the agency has issued a total of 133,645 bags of rice to the various relief agencies and local government units in regions affected by strong typhoons including Chedeng, Dodong, Hannah, Kabayan, Lando and Mina.

"The NFA is mandated to stabilize the prices of basic commodities during emergencies and must ensure that rice will be available at all times and at affordable price under whatever circumstances," said Navarro.

In addition to this, the NFA effectively supports the government's nutrition campaign by distributing iron-fortified rice particularly for the Food for School Program of the Department of Education for pre-school and Grade I students.

For the year, the NFA has delivered a total of 2.5 million bags of rice to 9,730 public elementary schools nationwide benefiting 2,633,800 school children.

Navarro gave assurance that in the coming years, through the continuous government support and trust given by the people, the NFA will always uphold its mandate of assuring the country's food security. "The peoples' interest will be our foremost priority," he stressed.

For more information on NFA programs, the public may send their inquiries via the Text NFA Program through mobile number 0917-6210927. ###
_________________________________________
REFERENCE: DIRECTOR REX C. ESTOPEREZ
Public Affairs Department
Tel. No. (0632) 928-0721
E-mail: rce@nfa.gov.ph /web site: www.nfa.gov.ph

January 17, 2008 - Agro company bullish on honey melon,pushes export of other farm produce
Agro-commercial company ANI announced it recently developed a new hybrid honey melon variety seen to put the unassuming fruit on staple not only in Filipino homes but even overseas.

The company also expressed optimism it will continue to sustain growth in agricultural exports with the innovations of agricultural technology in the country.

ANI, or AgriNurture Inc, an agro-commercial firm, is in the process of expanding to cater to both local and international markets.

"We are expanding. The opportunity is boundless. What we need to do is innovate agricultural technology and create marketing opportunities for the Filipino farmers," Tiu said. "It's up to us to take action and cultivate what we have."

ANI, formerly Mabuhay 2000, is a top exporter to the world of the much-coveted Philippine Carabao mangoes in terms of volume and market coverage.

Its recent acquisition of two distribution companies engaged in the trade of agricultural crops, namely FCA and Fresh and Green, plus its own retail subsidiary, Lucky Fruit and Vegetables Corporation, ANI is poised to gain dominance over the local retail distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables.

FCA and Fresh and Green are exclusively distributed in SM Supermarkets and Hypermarkets.

"Take honey melon as an example," Tiu said. "It grows well on Philippine soil. It is something that our farmers can easily cultivate, and therefore earn from."

According to Tiu, honey melon is a different variety of the cantaloupe that thrives on tropical soil, and is sweeter, more aromatic, and more succulent than other varieties in the market today. In fact, he said, "We just had a successful harvest after the first trial cycle of honey melon last week, and we are happy to have witnessed it with some of our DA officials."

"Honey melon is higher-yielding that other local varieties," Tiu said, "and it has qualities that are perfect for export—first, it is resistant to crop disease and infection, and most importantly, it is resilient during transport and packing."

Honey melon can be harvested in only 55 days, Tiu said, and farmers can achieve two croppings per year. "The farmer can cultivate other crops in between honey melon harvests," he said.

Tiu said that honey melon is a viable revenue-earning crop for Filipino farmers. He added that he is willing to give them support. "ANI is willing to support the propagation, financing and marketing of the product."

"A farmer who has one hectare of land and the necessary farm inputs can earn up to a million pesos a year," he said. "His produce will be bought by ANI at a guaranteed price."

ANI's outlook is clear, Tiu said: "We want to show our countrymen the tremendous business potential of the rapidly expanding market both here and abroad for agricultural crops."

"The opportunity is so great we don't want to pass it up," Tiu said. (end)

-------------------------
Honey Melon Fact Sheet
AgriNurture Incorporated (ANI) inaugurated its honey melon fruit farming pilot project.
ANI considers this to be a significant milestone for the strategic alliances between the corporation, the Department of Agriculture and the Filipino Farmers.

Produce has distinct aroma and sweetness that local varieties can't match.
Demand is bigger than supply in the local markets.
Local farming for this fruit crop would have to increase to meet expanding global demands
High-yielding for the Filipino Farmers. Per hectare, can produce 12,000-18,000 plants per hectare, each producing 3-5 fruits every 55 days. The weight range is from 600g up to 2kg.
Rejects can be processed into melon juice / concentrates.
Department of Agriculture is working out a financing package for the Filipino farmers. ANI in turn would guarantee the purchase of the harvest.

January 17, 2008 - Biofuels should be promoted through a science-based approach
“A science-based approach to biofuels can help ensure an alternative to fossil fuel, help reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, and improve the livelihood of poor dryland farmers without compromising food security.”

This was stressed by former Acting Agriculture Secretary William Dar, in reaction to recent reports that the development of biofuels would adversely compromise food needs of the country.

“Investing in biofuels is not counterproductive and will not adversely affect the country’s ability to produce its own food,” stressed Dar, who is currently Director General of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and chairman of the Committee for Science and Technology of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

“We have proven so at ICRISAT and farmers’ fields in India, where the biofuel feedstocks we are producing are environment-friendly, provide additional income to farmers, and do not compromise food security,” Dar said.
ICRISAT has developed a ‘smart’ bioethanol feedstock in sweet sorghum. Its experts have developed sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids with higher sugar content in their juice.

In October 2006, ICRISAT’s ‘Agri-Business Incubator’ partnered with an Indian company, Rusni Distilleries, to set up a $10-million ethanol processing facility that produces 40,000 liters per day of bio-ethanol from sweet sorghum, benefiting more than 3,000 farmers.

Dar said five investors have also signed up with ICRISAT and Rusni to pursue the same approach in the Philippines.

A ‘smart’ multipurpose crop, sweet sorghum is also drought-tolerant and a sufficient water-user. It only needs one-seventh of the average water requirement of sugarcane.

Sweet sorghum also produces more energy than it consumes. For every unit of fossil fuel energy it consumes, sweet sorghum produces 8 units and can go as high as 12 to 16 units in temperate areas. The only other crop that matches this is sugarcane, which produces 8.3 units of energy for every unit consumed.

Studies have also shown that sweet sorghum is carbon dioxide neutral, emitting only as much carbon dioxide as it absorbs. The emission and absorption is at 45 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare of sweet sorghum.

“There is additional income for farmers, too, even while they can keep the grain for food or the market,” Dar said.
ICRISAT estimates that by planting sweet sorghum instead of grain sorghum, dryland farmers can earn an additional US$40 to US$97 per hectare per crop.

Thus, sweet sorghum has an immense global potential in alleviating poverty, considering that farmers grow regular sorghum over 11 million hectares in Asia and 23.4 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are also promoting the massive planting of field-tested jatropha and pongamia varieties to rehabilitate wastelands and dryland villages in India. When cultivated in this context, jatropha and pongamia do not gobble up areas for food production,” Dar emphasized.

“Moreover, ICRISAT has linked farmers in eight project villages in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, India, with a biodiesel facility (Southern Online Biotech), where they deliver and sell their harvests of jatropha and pongamia for processing into biodiesel,” he added.

“In the Philippines, the science of cultivating jatropha must first be established through agricultural research before going into mass propagation. Domestication, crop improvement, pruning techniques, and best agronomic practices must be developed to harness the full potential of the crop. Large-scale jatropha plantations should be promoted only after the crop is scientifically studied to optimize its potential for viable biodiesel production,” Dar noted.

“In all, we have to very selective, in that, we should use ‘smart’ crops that are sustainable and do not compromise food security and the environment. Further, such crops like sweet sorghum should be have multi-uses that will provide farmers and their families not only additional incomes, but also food, biofuel feedstock, feed and forage,” Dar concluded. ###

January 17, 2008 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology students see potential of malunggay oil, recommend crop’s massive cultivation
THE Philippines should focus on the development of biofuel from malunggay seeds and should support the massive cultivation of the nutritious crop to boost farmers’ income.

This was the recommendation of a team of Masters of Business Administration (MBA) students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who studied the market outlook on moringa oil as part of their partial requirement for the completion of the Global Entrepreneurship Laboratory course under the MIT’s Sloan School of Management in Boston.

Jesus Benavides of Mexico, Alex Rall of Germany, David Salamon of France and Jose Torbay of Venezuela presented their study during the “Forum on World Marketing Strategies for the Commercialization of Moringa Oil” held at the Director’s Conference Room of the ITCAF Building, Department of Agriculture (DA) Compound in Diliman, Quezon City Wednesday morning.

They said the Philippines has the potential to create a new global market with the massive cultivation of malunggay, validating the aggressive campaign launched by the DA-Biotechnology Program Implementation Unit (DA-BPIU) headed by Director Alicia Ilaga, for the backyard and commercial planting of Malunggay.

The students said malunggay-oil production could generate millions of jobs and help alleviate poverty in the rural communities.

Salamon said a significant increase in rural population income, especially among farmers, are some of the advantages of “earned income” against “opportunity costs” in venturing into malunggay oil production.
With a 10-hectare farm, a farmer can earn P2 million in revenue during the first year, P3 million in the next three years, and P4 million in the next four years in producing malunggay oil.

Planting corn, a farmer would earn P1,440,000 per year while planting coconut, a farmer would earn P814,000 per year. In addition, the meal, locally referred to as sapal, of malunggay seeds can be used as feeds.
The labor force per plant is estimated at 100 employees. By 2010, around 3,000 employees are expected to join employed lot in 30 manufacturing sites.

They said most of the land needed for the massive cultivation of malunggay is not being used, thus, would not compete with food production.

The MIT-MBA Team, however, said venturing into the malunggay oil production entails cost. At least P250 million is needed to put up an extraction facility to ensure the production of malunggay oil that will pass European and US standards.

Aside from biofuel, the group said there are other options, such as venturing in high-end cosmetics and production of leaves for food consumption and food processing.

The team of MBA students from MIT studied the viability of global commercialization of malunggay oil, and examined its potential markets and has put together the foundation for a realistic marketing strategy in cooperation with Secura International Corp., a local biotech company who pioneered the extraction of pure oil from the seed of malunggay. (biolife news service)

January 17, 2008 - D.A., UPLB ink pack on distribution of high-quality corn seeds
The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños Foundation Inc. (UPLBFI) are embarking on a program to deliver P15 million-worth of high-quality, open-pollinated white corn seeds and other legumes to small farmers in time for the wet planting season this May, in a bid to further increase harvests this year and up incomes in the countryside.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo said the Department and the UPLBFI have inked an agreement covering the production and delivery by the UPLBFI, through the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB), of 21,700 bags of open pollinated varieties of white corn seeds; 5.3 tons of assorted seeds of vegetables and legumes; and 500,000 root crop seeds.

Araullo, who is concurrent national coordinator of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Corn Program, said these seeds will then be distributed to small farmers growing corn, vegetables, root crops and legumes nationwide as part of the DA’s hunger mitigation initiatives.

“Our agreement with the UPLB Foundation will help raise productivity, alleviate hunger and also revitalize the DA’s partnerships with knowledge and research institutions on utilizing modern agricultural technologies for the benefit of our small farmers,” Araullo said.

Under the agreement, the DA will earmark P15 million for the production and delivery by the UPLBFI of the open pollinated seed varieties. The DA will also monitor the target production sites and check on the delivery of the seeds.

The UPLBFI, through the IPB, will produce and deliver to the DA the required seeds for white corn, legumes, vegetables and root crops; disburse the funds; and assist the Department in monitoring the delivery and performance of the seeds.

Araullo said the DA and UPLBFI have chosen to produce open pollinated seeds because farmers can use these varieties for replanting.

The production and delivery of the seeds would be done in time for the next wet season planting this May, he said.
As of the third quarter last year, the corn sector reached a growth of 9.5%, with an equivalent production of 5.29 million metric tons.

Northern Mindanao produced a total of 535,000 MT of corn in the third quarter, followed by Central Mindanao or SOCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos City area) with 469,000 MT, and Cagayan Valley with 380,900 MT. ####

January 18, 2008 - DA lifts ban on bird, poultry imports from Nebraska
Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds along with poultry and its products from Nebraska, following official reports showing the absence of any evidence of the avian influenza (AI) virus in the American state in the last four months.

Yap ordered the ban lifted after an evaluation done by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) showed that “the risk of contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Nebraska. USA is negligible.”

He noted that based on the final report submitted by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), or Animal Health Organization, 90 days have elapsed without any evidence of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) since the cleaning and disinfection of infected premises in Nebraska that began in August 27 last year.

The Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE sets a three-month period before a country can regain its bird flu-free status after conducting a stamping-out campaign to eradicate birds infected with the AI virus.

In August last year, Yap ordered a temporary ban on all bird and poultry imports from Nebraska and Virginia based on official reports confirming the presence of the AI virus in these states.

The DA has also banned the entry of birds, poultry and its products from Korea, Saudi Arabia, Poland and the western African country of Benin to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines, which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.

The Philippines is one of only three AI-free countries in Southeast Asia. The two others are Brunei and Singapore.

As of Jan. 15, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 217 out of 350 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

This cumulative number represents a high human mortality rate of roughly 60% for this virus.

Earlier, Yap had ordered the BAI to step up its implementation of border patrols, quarantine measures and other preventive steps to keep the Philippines AI-free amid the resurgence of the bird flu virus in Asia, particularly Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Yap had directed BAI Director Davinio Catbagan to intensify the implementation of these preventive measures in airports and seaports in the cities of Davao and General Santos owing to their proximity to Indonesia, one of Asia’s bird-flu infected countries.

Also, it had been carrying out strict monitoring and control measures to prevent domestic poultry and ducks to come in contact with migratory birds from the 20 critical areas identified under the Avian Influenza Prevention Program (AIPP) and has been constantly upgrading and installing new laboratory equipment, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that are used to accurately and swiftly detect the presence of the AI virus. ###

Hike in pork, beef prices prompts DA to inspect QC markets
01/25/2008 | 03:37 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us Prices of pork and beef spiked up in at least two major wet markets in Quezon City, prompting the Department of Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap to personally inspect the situation on Friday morning.

GMA News reported that Yap inspected the Mega Q-Mart wet market in Quezon City to discover that the price of pork has already risen up to P155 per kilogram, a steep P20-increase, while the price of beef, which was previously pegged between P190 to P220 a kilo, has gone as high as P240, the report added.

At the Kamuning Market, also in Quezon City, the price of beef shot up by P30 and is at P230 a kilo, while pork is being sold at P150 from P140 per kilo.

When asked what prompted them to increase the prices of their meat, the vendors told Yap that the rising petroleum prices in the world market was to blame.

"Hindi natin inaasahan bigla tumataas din ang presyo ng gasolina. Yung mga bumabyahe ng baka syempre gumagamit ng sasakyan sa araw araw yan kada byahe. So pag tumaas ang gasolina ganun rin ang ipapatong nila sa karne (The price of gasoline would unexpectedly rise. Of course, meat dealers use vehicles every time they transport meat. So the increase in gasoline price would be relative to the increase in meat prices)," a meat vendor said.

Other vendors also cited the shortage in meat supply and the increasing price of poultry feeds as other factors in the sudden spike of prices of meat.

For his part, Yap admitted to being surprised by the situation because in other wet markets, he said that vendors have reportedly been able to keep prices at bay amid the mounting prices of feeds and petroleum.

The Agriculture cited as an example the Commonwealth Market, also in Quezon City, where the price of pork remains locked at P135 per kilogram.

Yap also allayed fears of a looming shortage in the country's meat supply, adding that he has already enlisted the three largest hog raisers in the Philippines to help in easing the rising prices of their poultry products.

"Puwede pang ibaba sa tingin namin. Kaya para sa mga mamimili natin, tumawad kayo (We think the prices can still be For our consumers, try negotiatiating for a lower price)," Yap advised. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV

Monday, March 10, 2008
Exec: Pork shipment gets Singapore's nod

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The National Meat Inspection Service in Central Mindanao announced last week that Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority has given the go signal for a pork processor in the region to export meat parts to the island state.

Jose Ariel B. Billones, regional meat inspection director, said the Singaporean authority relayed the clearance to their main office for Matutum Meat Packing Corporation to pioneer the shipment of fresh frozen cut pork meat products.

The go signal from Singapore for Matutum Meat was made known by Jane C. Bacayo, NMIS national director, during a national consultation among government meat inspectors in Boracay about two weeks ago, according to Billones.

"But there's no particular date as yet when the actual export would take off," he said.

Singapore's go signal for Matutum Meat, which is based in Polomolok, South Cotabato, came even if the regional meat inspection agency is still awaiting compliance documents from the firm, he added.

On February 18, Billones said Singaporean experts did not give a clearance to Matutum Meat following the foreigners' site inspection last January 28, due to concerns on anti-biotic residues found on pork meat.

Billones said the issue on anti-biotic residue was addressed by tracing the origin of pigs through the assignment by Matutum Meat of codes to piggery owners.

"Also, we have conducted consultations with the piggery owners that they should raise their hogs without anti-biotic supplements just to meet the requirement of Singapore," he said.

Billones stressed that all processed hogs that will be bound for Singapore will also be strictly tested for anti-biotic residues before they will be shipped.

The "other minor problems" Billones said is being addressed by Matutum Meat, as recommended by the Singaporean experts, are the chlorination of water and the setting up of tire disinfectant on vehicles entering the firm's plant.

This paper tried to reach Bacayo, the NMIS national director, in Manila for more details and confirmation, but he was reportedly out.

Stephen Castillo, manager of Matutum Meat, could not also be contacted for comments, but he earlier expressed confidence the company can meet the requirements of Singapore.

Matutum Meat, a sister company of Cebu-based Sunpride Foods, Inc. which produces Holiday corned beef and Sunpride canned goods, has invested around P200 million for its state-of-the-art processing plant in Polomolok town.

Matutum Meat is one of two companies, the other one being the Davao City-based Nenita Quality Foods Corp., which the Department of Agriculture (DA) tapped to pioneer the country's foray in the foreign pork market.

Singaporean experts are reportedly set to visit the facility of Nenita's in June, as Davao meat traders expressed hopes it too will be given clearance just like Matutum Meat.

Mindanao has been chosen by the national government to initiate the country's pork export since the island has been certified as free from the foot-and-mouth disease, the recognition coming from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or World Organization for Animal Health.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap has originally targeted the nation's foreign pork shipment to take place in July 2007 after announcing the development earlier in the year.

Philippine Pork Market 2008
By Pia Abuel-Ang, USDA FAS GAIN Report. The Minimum Access Volume (MAV) utilization for pork increased from five to 19 per cent last year, indicating an increase in importation of more premium pork cuts. In October 2007, the Philippine Department of Agriculture announced that it would be reviewing its MAV regulations, which is expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2008.

Tariff Rate Quota: Data from the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) Management Committee of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) shows that in 2007, utilization rates of tariffrate- quotas (TRQ) or MAV for pork increased from five per cent in 2006 to 19 per cent in 2007, indicating more imports of higher-value pork cuts, such as bellies and other unspecified prime cuts.

MAV usage for pork has been relatively low, due in part to the entry of large quantities of buffalo meat with a low tariff rate of 10 per cent and illegally imported pork in the market. Buffalo meat, from India, has been traditionally used in the Philippines as a substitute for pork by the local meat processing industry. MAV utilization is expected to remain low due to the high in-quota duties for pork as well as high pork prices in the world market relative to the price of local pork. Majority of the pork imported in the Philippines is pork rind and pork fat.

WTO Commitments: Since 2005, the DA has continued to maintain 10th or final-year MAV levels under its Uruguay Round commitments. For pork HS 0203, the final-year MAV was 54,210 MT. The DA previously stated that it will continue to do so until such time as a new WTO agreement is reached. In October 2007, the DA announced that it would defer the distribution of 2008 MAV licenses, while it undertakes a review of MAV distribution guidelines. According to the DA, the review is being undertaken in order to allow new entrants and more entities to participate in the MAV system. On 17 January 2008, the DA released the MAV allocations for 2008, pending completion of the review, which temporarily disrupted trade for about 3 months. The review is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Tariff Rates: In-quota and out-of-quota tariff rates for MAV commodities have not changed since 2005. Tariff rates for pork are as follow:

1 ASEAN Free Trade Agreement-Common Effective Preferential Tariff

Imports: Last year, according to data from the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), total pork imports increased by 43 per cent, mostly composed of pork rinds or skin and pork fats used by the meat processing industry. The Philippines imported about 32 per cent of its pork requirement from Canada and about 16 per cent from Germany. The United States supplied a little over 13 per cent (10,351 MT), mostly pork offals, fats and other unspecified pork cuts.

Production: Live hog production grew by 2.72 per cent in 2007 and 3.66 per cent in 2006. Hog production is expected to expand in 2008, albeit only marginally, due to increasing cost of feeds. In 2007, the Philippines imported 273 head of swine for breeding from the United States, an increase of 174 percent from the previous year (USDA/ERS FATUS Reports). Already in January 2008, local hog associations reported the arrival of 230 live hogs imported from the United States (see GAIN RP8003).

Consumption: Philippine population is roughly 90 million and growing at a rate of 2.36 per cent per year. According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, annual per capita consumption of pork at 13.88 kg, grew by 1.39 per cent in 2006, while consumption of pork offal grew by 3.57 per cent.

Processed Meat: Demand for processed meat products is expected to remain strong. Canned food is very popular among Filipino households. Though canned meat/meat products had been losing popularity in recent years due to increasing awareness of healthy lifestyles, demand for such products is being awakened by more aggressive campaigns by suppliers. Due to low Philippine per capita income, demand for frozen food will remain extremely pricesensitive. Hotdogs, hams, sausages, salami and meat patties for burgers are favorite chilled processed meats among consumers.

Demand for imported processed food products will remain relatively strong given the following factors: the growing interest and preference for western style cuisine, an increasing number of dual-income families and the increasing popularity of branded processed products. Additionally, a growing segment of young consumers is demanding imported products as a growing urbanization of the Philippine population spurs this growth.

According to the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI), the domestic meat processing industry is forecast to continue to grow. The growing demand for processed meat products, which is estimated to be about 60 percent of the domestic meat market, is expected to drive this growth. Canned goods, in particular, have a strong growth potential due to wide distribution prospects in both traditional retail outlets such as supermarkets and groceries as well as remote neighborhood convenience stores or “sari-sari” stores in rural areas.

PAMPI is looking to expand into the international market. With the recognition of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) that most parts of the country are free from foot-andmouth disease, PAMPI is reportedly optimistic about the country’s potential to export more products and to become the regional production hub for processed meat products.

However, the industry’s growth and export potential are constrained by lack of new investment, an increasing global trend towards more stringent sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements for food products, and a limited source of raw materials, particularly beef, a base ingredient for most canned meat products. Because of the relatively small domestic cattle industry, local meat processors must source most of their meat requirements from outside the country such as India, and South America as well as Australia, Europe and the United States.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease: On 4 January 2008, the Philippine DA filed an application for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) free certification from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), after having an absence of FMD outbreaks since the start of 2006. Under OIE rules, a country seeking FMD-free zone certification must have had no cases of FMD for at least 24 months before the time of application. According to the DA, an international scientific committee from the OIE will convene in March to evaluate the Philippine application, along with that of other countries. Should the Philippines’ application be favorably received by the committee, the DA expects to receive the FMD-free certification, but with vaccination, from the OIE by May 2008. After one year of attaining FMD-free status, the Philippines may once again apply for a more stringent FMD-free status, with no vaccination if no outbreaks occur. The Visayas and Mindanao islands have already been certified by the OIE as FMD-free in 2002.

The Philippines is hopeful that this certification from the OIE would pave the way for more Philippine meat exports to other countries. The DA is looking at prospective markets in Singapore and China for Philippine pork products. The Philippines is hopeful that the upcoming inspections of Philippine meat facilities by the Singapore government would result in eventual market access for local products.

Currently, the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry restricts the movement of animals and uncooked/unprocessed meat products, including imported meat products from FMD infected countries, from Luzon to other OIE declared FMD-free zones such as Visayas or Mindanao. Imported meat products from FMD countries are only allowed to enter Luzon, provided that certain measures are in place (i.e., boneless, deglanded meat, with proper maturation and appropriate quarantine protocols, etc.). Moreover, imported meat products from FMD countries may only be imported for use by the meat processing industry and cannot be sold in the retail markets. The BAI is currently implementing a "biosecurity" program, which emphasizes the proper handling of livestock to prevent diseases, instead of vaccinating infected swine.

The Philippine DA will not likely change any policy on the movement of livestock and unprocessed animal products, even after receiving FMD-free, with vaccination certification However, should the Philippines eventually attain FMD-free status, with NO vaccination (expected by May 2009 at the earliest) the current restrictions on the movement of live animals and uncooked meat products may be reviewed, to be made consistent with policies currently implemented in Visayas and Mindanao. These possible changes may have implications on the movement of imported and domestic live animals within the country, as well as importation of meat products from FMD-countries. How these issues are eventually resolved will directly impact U.S. exports of both meat products and livestock.

DA fears extinction of native chicken

By Delmar Cariño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:29:00 02/16/2008

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET – Native chickens in the Cordillera are disappearing at an alarming rate and the region’s Department of Agriculture is worried that the breed would soon become extinct.

The DA’s poultry specialists told a media forum at the Agriculture Training Institute here on Thursday that native chickens have failed to sustain their potential as a steady source of meat products.

Blame it on the people’s attitude of confining the raising of native breeds in the backyard and the rapid commercialization of “free range” chickens, said Dr. Jerry Sabado of the DA’s quarantine services.

“Native chickens do not receive enough attention from their owners because they are raised more for backyard purposes than as a major source of livelihood,” he said.

The effect was that generations of native chickens gave way to the massive increase in the commercialization of free range chickens, he said.

Sabado said free range chickens are the common broiler type that could be raised and sold in 45 days.

Dr. Miriam Tiongan, of the Benguet veterinary office, shared Sabado’s views, saying the province alone has become a wide market for commercially raised chickens.

Thousands of them are delivered to different outlets in the province, spinning a profitable distribution business, she said.

“The Cordillera is basically an importer of live chickens,” she said.

Sabado said this reality has sidelined the business potentials, and even the health benefits, of raising native chickens.

Compared to most free range chickens, native breeds are more organically based since they do not require dosages of antibiotics and commercial feeds.

“They could feed themselves on green grasses and plants, insects and other natural commodities found in the soil,” he said.

“When cooked, it cannot be denied that their meat tastes better,” he added.

But native chickens take a longer time to raise, compared to the free range chickens, Sabado noted

April 3, 2008 - Over 1,000 participants expected at National Food Summit
Over 1,000 representatives from Government and the private sector are expected to attend the National Food Summit tomorrow, which will be held to harmonize all food security initiatives and craft a comprehensive, three-year blueprint for rural development for the remainder of the Arroyo presidency.

Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which is the lead organizer of the food summit at the Fontana Leisure Park and Casino in Pampanga, said that members of Congress and representatives of government agencies, the DA regional field units and local government units are expected to take part in the summit along with stakeholders from the agriculture and fisheries sector.

The DA invited representatives of farmers and fishers organizations, industry and professional associations, sectoral groups like consumers and transport organizations, academe and regional development councils to the summit.

President Arroyo will be the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the summit, where she is expected to unveil a series of fresh initiatives to, among others, cushion on Filipino consumers the impact of the looming global food crunch arising from tightening supplies and escalating prices of rice, corn, wheat and other grains.

“We will harness the support and consolidate the inputs of all these sectors with the end in view of unifying our initiatives to guarantee food security and draw up a comprehensive program that will serve as the Arroyo administration’s blueprint for rural development from now till 2010,” Yap said.

Yap said that one major objective of this summit is to find ways of better harnessing LGUs and the private sector as effective convergence points for the various national government initiatives concerning food security and job creation.

President Arroyo instructed the DA last January to organize the national food summit—or long before the current market distortions in rice hit the country—in sync with her administration’s “Pagkain sa Bawat Mesa, Negosyo sa Sakahan—Laban sa Kahirapan” goals.

Last year, Yap already underscored the need to hold such consultations and harness multisectoral support to enable the country to hurdle the then-looming global challenges to its food security, amid contracting supplies and rocketing prices of grains staples like rice, wheat and corn in the world market.

The comprehensive program to be drawn up during the summit will buttress the DA’s five-pillar growth agenda that focuses on higher spending on irrigation and rural infrastructure, on postharvest facilities, and on research and development or R&D and extension work; on rural credit facilitation; and on finding more local and foreign markets for Philippine products.

The summit will cap the two-month series of sectoral and regional consultations by the DA to win the support of all sectors for Malacañang’s long-term goals of national self-sufficiency in rice, corn and other food crops for the benefit of consumers; finding new markets abroad to boost agricultural exports; and making farming much more profitable, especially for small farmers and fisherfolk.

Among the main topics that will be extensively discussed during the summit are the ongoing initiatives being undertaken by the government, in tandem with other sectors, to guarantee the stable flow and adequate stocks of rice, corn and other commodities in the face of tightening supplies and soaring commodity prices in the world market.

Yap said that the central areas of concern in the coming summit comprise five commodity clusters, namely, rice, corn, high-value commercial crops or HVCCs, livestock and poultry, and fisheries and aquaculture.

At the same time, Yap urged Congress to act on a pending legislative measure on a national land use policy, which will categorize the use of lands for either agricultural production, human settlements, infrastructure development or as protected areas to help stop the unbridled conversion of prime farmlands into non-agricultural uses.###

Steps taken to solve corn shortage

By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 11:13:00 04/04/2008

CEBU CITY, Philippines - An official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is calling for a review of the 2008 corn program targets for the different regions under the National Corn Program to find possible sources of funds.

Ricardo Oblena, DA director for Central Visayas, said the possible funds to be generated will be used in buying and distributing white corn seeds which will be planted during off-season.

Off-season is the period when corn land is supposed to be “resting and recovering.” It falls within the months of July to August and January to February.

Grace Len Dagala, DA-7 agricultural communication officer, said planting during off-season will be in corn cluster areas which are located mostly in Cebu and Negros Oriental.

The DA officials made these measures after the price of white corn shot up from P22.50 per kilo in early March to at least P30 per kilo in the market.

The DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, however, said that based on regular price monitoring, a kilo of white corn grain was at P22.50 per kilo on the first week of March but it reached P27.50 per kilo this week.

Dagala said some corn cluster areas, with an average land area of 50 hectares to 100 hectares, are located in Toledo City in western Cebu, and Bayawan City and Mabinay town in Negros Oriental.

She said planting certified seeds and high-yielding open pollinated white corn varieties is one strategy to increase yield of corn.

Corn program coordinators were also ordered to purchase 900 bags of white corn seeds to be planted in Central Visayas this April, said Oblena.

He said the 900 bags of open-pollinated white corn varieties will be planted in 900 hectares of corn land.

Oblena said these are part of the measures the department is taking to address the need for enough white corn supply of Cebu and Negros Oriental, top two corn-eating provinces in the region.

In a separate interview, Dagala said Cebu has the highest corn output among the four provinces in the region with 101, 605 metric tons of white corn.

Its population of more than four million however consumes a total of 197,472 metric tons or close to 198 million kilos of corn in 2007, said Dagala.

Negros Oriental, on the other hand, consumed 96,539 metric tons or more than 96 million kilos of corn.

Last year, Central Visayas produced a total of 199,420 metric tons or close to 200 million kilos of white corn.

Around 250 units of corn shellers, machines used to remove corn husks, will also be distributed by DA to farmers' associations.

“This, to minimize the losses that corn growers might incur during harvest and to increase quality of grain recovery,” DA-7 in a statement said.

Metro
DA, mayors to supply NFA rice to poor
By Marianne Go
Sunday, April 13, 2008
By next week, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority will start directly distributing between 15,000 to 20,000 bags of NFA rice a day to poor families with less than P152 a day to spend for food.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said he has reached an agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the League of Mayors to help the NFA intensify the distribution of government-subsidized rice in the country’s 12 highly populated areas.

Yap said the areas where he has ordered the NFA to increase the distribution of government-subsidized rice sold at P18.25 per kilo are Metro Manila, Baguio City, Lucena City, Legaspi City, Albay, Tacloban City, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Dumaguete City, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City and General Santos City.

He directed the NFA to closely coordinate with the DSWD, local government units (LGUs) and faith-based communities to ensure that the poorest of the poor will be the first to buy NFA rice.

“We will intensify the distribution of NFA rice in these 12 areas to help ensure that cheap rice reaches the widest swath of the population where poor families reside,” Yap said.

Yap told The STAR that the DA, NFA, DSWD and local governments are still trying to “clean up” their respective lists to ensure that only families with less than P152 to spend for food would be the targeted beneficiaries.

He clarified that the NFA rice would be sold to the targeted families at P18.25 per kilo and that there would be no dole-outs or free rice.

The DA-NFA is intensifying its distribution of rice to stabilize the prices of the food staple and make affordable rice available to low-income consumers.

Yap’s decision to work with local governments, however, is being criticized by the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1), which is urging the DA and NFA to work only with the DSWD.

In an interview, R1 lead convenor Jessica Cantos-Reyes said coursing the distribution of NFA rice through LGUs may again lead to diversions. However, Yap came to the defense of the LGUs, arguing that “R1 should not prejudge the LGU’s ability to distribute food.”

“They have the list and the capability, along with the DSWD,” he said. “We are therefore just cleaning up our individual lists to avoid duplication.”

NFA administrator Jessup Navarro said the agency will begin increasing the distribution of government-subsidized rice in these 12 areas next week.

Yap said the DA is drawing up a food production masterplan with experts from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) along with the Eminent Persons Group, which will help oversee the implementation of Malacañang’s P43.7-billion package of intervention measures for Philippine agriculture.

“We are working on a masterplan for sustained agricultural growth from now till 2010. Philippine agriculture is not all rice, we have other sectors to protect,” Yap said.

“We are taking the opportunity as well to look at the other sub-sectors of agriculture,” he added.

Yap said that among the measures that the DA is studying is the expansion of the subsidy program for seeds and fertilizers and the involvement of LGUs in rice production, particularly in the country’s 37 biggest rice-growing provinces.

He said these were among the recommendations made by the Eminent Persons Group during a meeting last Monday to discuss ways on how to efficiently implement Malacañang’s heightened commitment to guarantee food security.

RP seeks cheap US rice
By Jose Katigbak The STAR Washington Bureau
Sunday, April 13, 2008
WASHINGTON – Officials of the Philippine government’s National Food Authority (NFA) and suppliers are here haggling over the importation of 100,000 metric tons of rice to Manila.

The NFA is using $75 million in credit guarantees from a US Department of Agriculture program, which promotes sales of US farm goods to developing countries by assuring lenders they will get paid even if a borrower defaults.

NFA officials are in discussion with several US rice traders, hoping to secure the best rates.

The negotiations between Philippine food officials and major American rice suppliers are being made amid worldwide concerns over food security issues which continue to drive up prices of the staple, the USDA said.

In its April circular on “Grain: World Markets and Trade,” the USDA said some major suppliers have banned or restricted exports in order to protect domestic supplies, placing additional upward pressure on prices.

The cutback in exportable supplies resulted in record rice prices, as indicated by Thailand and the US, the report said.

The USDA has increased the credit guarantee to the Philippines by $10 million in March to help it stave off a looming rice shortage.

In a broad review of the international rice situation, the USDA said Vietnam, the world’s second-largest supplier, has re-imposed a ban on exports that could cut shipments by at least 20 percent.

This would result in a million tons less than the previous year at 4.5 million metric tons.

China, on the other hand, placed a tax and quota system on exports while Egypt banned exports from April 1 to October this year to help stabilize high domestic prices, which have nearly doubled in recent months, it said.

India recently imposed an export ban on non-basmati rice to replace its minimum export price, which has more than doubled to $1,000 per metric ton since October 2007.

Although Thailand is not presently limiting or restricting exports, it is faced with tightening domestic supplies and record prices.

Thailand is reportedly planning to release its own stocks into the domestic market to help lower prices caused by the threat of falling domestic supply which has been fueled by strong export sales, the report said.

As for the US, its ending stocks are forecast at a 27-year low, but there could be additional foreign demand for US rice.

The weakening dollar makes US commodities more competitive in the world market and constrained shipments from traditional suppliers could cause importers to increase purchases from the United States.

In Manila, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap urged Asian governments to hold talks on the sharply escalating cost of food.

Yap proposed a ministerial-level meeting of Asian governments to discuss means to raise food production and provide interim food aid.

“We must address the plight of food-poor families in the countries most affected by the rice price crisis,” Yap told the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) during a recent meeting.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II also called on the government to take the initiative in calling for a food summit among member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with China, Japan and South Korea.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, made the call as he noted the statement of the IRRI warning that the global rice crisis is not expected to diminish until 2010 and may take from five to 10 years to finally settle down.

Roxas said he would file a resolution tomorrow expressing the sense of the Senate that the Philippines should take the lead in calling for such a special leaders’ summit to ensure food and rice security in the coming months.

Roxas said the Philippines could invoke a provision in the ASEAN Charter on summits that allows its leaders to hold a meeting to “address emergency situations affecting ASEAN by taking appropriate actions.”

IRRI, the world’s premier rice research institute, held an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Laguna to discuss ways of easing rising rice prices that have swept the region and caused unrest in some countries.

IRRI had warned that rice prices were likely to keep rising for some time as production fails to keep up with soaring demand.

Turned down

The Philippines, one of the world’s biggest rice importers, has been struggling to procure enough rice for its 90 million people.

The country’s rice farms are mainly small plots and cannot meet domestic food needs.

Producers warned Friday that bread, noodles and processed meat prices are likely to follow rice prices in coming weeks as Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila said China had turned down Manila’s request to buy wheat.

“This would force the Philippine government to buy more expensive wheat from the United States,” Favila said.

“I am saddened that China did not grant our request and I have already received official communication to that effect. They did not give any reason. They just said the demand in China is also large,” he said.

Kevin Cleaver from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development met with President Arroyo earlier Friday to discuss the implications of the food crisis on the Philippines.

Cleaver said, “In some 33 countries there is now civil disturbance, food riots caused by food shortages and higher prices. This is one of the subjects we discussed.”

He said people were suffering because the “price of rice and food has increased and we discussed a little bit what to do about that,” adding he and Mrs. Arroyo agreed that a solution was to ramp up production.

The President has pledged to make rice supplies available to every Filipino, drafting the military to distribute supplies and crack down on hoarders.

The President said the government had a plan for better irrigation facilities, according to Cleaver. That would help in the coming year but the shorter-term problem was more difficult to cure, he said.

Cleaver added that the world was taken by surprise because “most people have been complacent,” but governments could take steps to deal with the crisis.

Political issue

Malacañang admitted that the problems faced over the price and supply of rice are real amid claims by the political opposition that the situation is artificial and meant to divert attention from controversies hounding the administration.

While the government is faced with the challenge of maintaining the supply of subsidized rice from the NFA, deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said all efforts are being exerted to keep the prices of rice and other basic commodities stable.

Golez did admit that an artificial crisis could take place if the traders engage in hoarding and other illegal activities aimed at taking advantage of the current delicate situation on rice.

He said the supply of NFA rice has been affected by an unusual increase in demand.

Because of the increase in the prices of commercial rice in the market, Golez said the middle class has also shifted to cheaper NFA rice.

With the quality of some varieties of NFA rice now at par with the commercial rice varieties, Golez said the shift was a natural move on the part of some consumers.

The entry of middle class consumers into the NFA rice market has resulted in a decline in supply for the low-income and poor sector that is the intended market of the subsidized rice, Golez said.

“So the supply that is for the poor is also going to other people who want to save money,” he said.

Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde, for his part, called for a “ceasefire” with the political opposition amid the problem of food price increases.

Remonde urged the opposition to work in finding solutions to the rice problem.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, however, said Malacañang’s appeal for a political ceasefire amid the rice problem should not be allowed.

Lacson said any political ceasefire would allow the administration to get away with corruption.

Lacson said he is willing to work hand in hand with Malacañang, provided that it would stop its “shameless lying, stealing and cheating.”

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, on the other hand, said the current situation cannot be denied by any sector, including the opposition.

Just like every issue raised by the opposition against the administration, Gonzalez said the claim of an artificial rice crisis is to be expected.

“But what is important is the basic truth which is facing the country today. I don’t think anybody can deny the fact that this is a worldwide crisis,” he said.

Gonzalez said the food crisis can always be caused by unscrupulous traders which the government is trying to prevent. - With Marvin Sy, Aurea Calica

Gov't lifts restrictions on meat imports from US, Canada

By Amy R. Remo
Inquirer

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has removed import restrictions on all meat imports from the United States and Canada.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap amended an order issued in July that imposed conditions on importation of meat from these countries, such as the following:

• Bone-in beef imports from these countries should come only from cattle of less than 30 months of age.

• Beef, whether boneless or bone-in. should be devoid of specified risk materials.

• Beef, whether boneless or bone-in, should come only from healthy ambulatory and now downer cattle.

• The age of the slaughtered cattle should be certified by the US Department of Agriculture or the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

• The production date or slaughter date of the beef should be included in the packaging label.

The DA had imposed these restrictions to prevent the entry of mad cow disease into the country. The Office Internationale des Epizooties or Animal Health Organization earlier declared the United States and Canada as countries with “controlled BSE risks.”

With the lifting of the restrictions, the Philippines can now provide full market access to American and Canadian meat suppliers.

Earlier, Yap also temporarily banned imports of domestic and wild birds along with poultry products from Virginia and Nebraska, following official confirmation by US authorities of the presence of the bird flu virus in those areas.

He said the ban and other emergency measures were necessary to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines, which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.

The DA has also imposed a similar ban on all live bird and poultry imports from Togo, Korea and the United Kingdom after the presence of the bird flu virus had been detected in these countries.

DA sets 5.3-M ton target for fisheries in 2008
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Press Release

The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects the fisheries sector to continue being the primary growth driver for Philippine agriculture this year, with production targets set at almost 5.34 million metric tons (MT), or a hefty 10% hike from the 2006 yield.

In a report to Secretary Arthur Yap, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Malcolm Sarmiento said that of this 5.339 million MT target, some 2.701 million MT will come from the aquaculture sector, another 1.157 million MT from commercial fisheries, and 1.48 million MT more from municipal fishing.

Sarmiento said this would represent a 10% hike from the 4.85 million MT of fisheries production in 2006.

The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao; the Mimaropa region of Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan; the Zamboanga Peninsula; the CALABARZON provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon; and Western Visayas are expected to fuel the growth of the fisheries sector this year, Sarmiento said.

Yap pointed out that the fisheries sector was consistently the biggest gainer in terms of growth so far in the first three quarters of 2007, with its expansion increasing an impressive 7.92% in the July-September period alone.

Fourth quarter production for 2007 is estimated to reach 1.428 million MT or a surplus of 773,000 MT, he said.

Yap said the establishment of environment-friendly systems such as mariculture parks; expansion of seaweed farming; farming of high-value species such as abalone, sea urchins and sea cucumbers, and P. vannamei or Pacific white shrimp; more aggressive enforcement of anti-poaching and illegal fishing and sustained resource conservation efforts, will help sustain the growth of the fisheries sector in 2008.

To date, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has listed the Philippines as No. 8 from its previous ranking of No. 11 among the top fish-producing countries in the world.

Tuna is the country’s top export product shipped in many parts of the world including the USA, Japan, China and the European Union.

Similarly, the country is currently the world’s 2nd largest producer of seaweeds, with production reaching 1.39 million MT or 11.6% of the total world production of 12 million MT.

To help seal the growth of the fisheries sector this year, the DA is sending a BFAR-led team to negotiate and renew an agreement in Jakarta that will grant Philippine fishing vessels continued access to Indonesia’s rich fishing grounds.

This team, to be headed by Sarmiento, hopes to renew a fishing arrangement that has enabled Filipino vessels to fish for tuna in the 200-mile Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

A new fishing arrangement between Manila and Jakarta allowing the Philippines to continue using part of the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) in the Sulawesi Sea portion of Indonesia’s waters is necessary to sustain the local fishing industry and allow the harvest of 80,000 to 100,000 MT more of tuna yearly.

An arrangement between the DA and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia on the Philippines’ use of a portion of the TAC in the 200-mile Indonesian EEZ was signed in January 2002 with a validity of three years. It expired in 2005 and was renewed for another year.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Indonesia exercises sovereign rights over its EEZ and its archipelagic and territorial waters.

However, an existing agreement on fisheries cooperation signed between Manila and Jakarta in November 2001 and renewed in February 2006 paved the way for the Philippines’ access to Indonesia’s fishing grounds.

Sarmiento said Philippine fishing vessels are allowed access to certain portions of Indonesia’s EEZ provided that Jakarta gets a share of the fish catch in these waters. ###

February 18, 2008 - D.A. to help farmers, fisherfolk ‘cruise’ info superhighway
The Department of Agriculture is speeding up the implementation of an ambitious program to let small farmers, fisherfolk and agribusiness entrepreneurs cruise the Infobahn by tapping into a DA-run electronic database system for information on new technologies to help them boost yields, optimize profits and eventually engage in online trading or marketing of their produce.

In a report to DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) said this project—Comprehensive Agriculture and Fisheries Integrated Management System (CAFIAMS)—initially aims to inform small farm producers on cutting-edge technologies to increase harvests and prune their produce.

“This is actually a farm-to-fork knowledge-based system,” reported BAR director Nicomedes Eleazar during the latest Management Committee (ManCom) meeting of the DA at its central office in Quezon City.

Eleazar reported to Yap that with the CAFIAMS in place, farmers and fisherfolk can gain access to a knowledge system that would provide them timely information, technical assistance and other relevant data on how they could produce more and earn more from their goods.

Through the CAFIAMS, he said that farm producers could later on electronically tie up with fellow growers in other parts of the country to synchronize planting, harvesting and delivery schedules to help them command the best possible prices for their products and ensure the steady supply of food staples.

Eleazar noted that the system could also help farmers and fisherfolk synchronize support services—from land preparation to harvesting—and let them gain access to available credit facilities,

The project would eventually include marketing services, allowing farmers and fisherfolk to obtain via the Internet all relevant data on suppliers, buyers and price updates of prime commodities, as well as provisions for online trading.

Among the components of this project are the e-learning system, which offers online training courses on various agriculture and fisheries technologies; the e-Pinoy Farms, which provides rural-based cooperatives and groups with technical assistance and advisory services; and e-trading, which focuses on facilitating trade for small agricultural cooperatives.

Yap said that said besides BAR, the project will also involve the Agricultural Training Institute, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), DA Agribusiness Center, agricultural cooperatives and local government units (LGUs).

He added that LGUs and rural cooperatives would help build, maintain and update the CAFIAMS database by providing the latest relevant information on agriculture and fisheries in their respective localities.

It is currently benefiting some 2,515 onion farmers tilling 2,132 hectares of land nationwide and will soon be expanded to cover the fisheries sector. ###

February 18, 2008 - D.A. to help farmers, fisherfolk ‘cruise’ info superhighway
The Department of Agriculture is speeding up the implementation of an ambitious program to let small farmers, fisherfolk and agribusiness entrepreneurs cruise the Infobahn by tapping into a DA-run electronic database system for information on new technologies to help them boost yields, optimize profits and eventually engage in online trading or marketing of their produce.

In a report to DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) said this project—Comprehensive Agriculture and Fisheries Integrated Management System (CAFIAMS)—initially aims to inform small farm producers on cutting-edge technologies to increase harvests and prune their produce.

“This is actually a farm-to-fork knowledge-based system,” reported BAR director Nicomedes Eleazar during the latest Management Committee (ManCom) meeting of the DA at its central office in Quezon City.

Eleazar reported to Yap that with the CAFIAMS in place, farmers and fisherfolk can gain access to a knowledge system that would provide them timely information, technical assistance and other relevant data on how they could produce more and earn more from their goods.

Through the CAFIAMS, he said that farm producers could later on electronically tie up with fellow growers in other parts of the country to synchronize planting, harvesting and delivery schedules to help them command the best possible prices for their products and ensure the steady supply of food staples.

Eleazar noted that the system could also help farmers and fisherfolk synchronize support services—from land preparation to harvesting—and let them gain access to available credit facilities,

The project would eventually include marketing services, allowing farmers and fisherfolk to obtain via the Internet all relevant data on suppliers, buyers and price updates of prime commodities, as well as provisions for online trading.

Among the components of this project are the e-learning system, which offers online training courses on various agriculture and fisheries technologies; the e-Pinoy Farms, which provides rural-based cooperatives and groups with technical assistance and advisory services; and e-trading, which focuses on facilitating trade for small agricultural cooperatives.

Yap said that said besides BAR, the project will also involve the Agricultural Training Institute, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), DA Agribusiness Center, agricultural cooperatives and local government units (LGUs).

He added that LGUs and rural cooperatives would help build, maintain and update the CAFIAMS database by providing the latest relevant information on agriculture and fisheries in their respective localities.

It is currently benefiting some 2,515 onion farmers tilling 2,132 hectares of land nationwide and will soon be expanded to cover the fisheries sector. ###

February 18, 2008 - D.A. to help farmers, fisherfolk ‘cruise’ info superhighway
The Department of Agriculture is speeding up the implementation of an ambitious program to let small farmers, fisherfolk and agribusiness entrepreneurs cruise the Infobahn by tapping into a DA-run electronic database system for information on new technologies to help them boost yields, optimize profits and eventually engage in online trading or marketing of their produce.

In a report to DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) said this project—Comprehensive Agriculture and Fisheries Integrated Management System (CAFIAMS)—initially aims to inform small farm producers on cutting-edge technologies to increase harvests and prune their produce.

“This is actually a farm-to-fork knowledge-based system,” reported BAR director Nicomedes Eleazar during the latest Management Committee (ManCom) meeting of the DA at its central office in Quezon City.

Eleazar reported to Yap that with the CAFIAMS in place, farmers and fisherfolk can gain access to a knowledge system that would provide them timely information, technical assistance and other relevant data on how they could produce more and earn more from their goods.

Through the CAFIAMS, he said that farm producers could later on electronically tie up with fellow growers in other parts of the country to synchronize planting, harvesting and delivery schedules to help them command the best possible prices for their products and ensure the steady supply of food staples.

Eleazar noted that the system could also help farmers and fisherfolk synchronize support services—from land preparation to harvesting—and let them gain access to available credit facilities,

The project would eventually include marketing services, allowing farmers and fisherfolk to obtain via the Internet all relevant data on suppliers, buyers and price updates of prime commodities, as well as provisions for online trading.

Among the components of this project are the e-learning system, which offers online training courses on various agriculture and fisheries technologies; the e-Pinoy Farms, which provides rural-based cooperatives and groups with technical assistance and advisory services; and e-trading, which focuses on facilitating trade for small agricultural cooperatives.

Yap said that said besides BAR, the project will also involve the Agricultural Training Institute, the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), DA Agribusiness Center, agricultural cooperatives and local government units (LGUs).

He added that LGUs and rural cooperatives would help build, maintain and update the CAFIAMS database by providing the latest relevant information on agriculture and fisheries in their respective localities.

It is currently benefiting some 2,515 onion farmers tilling 2,132 hectares of land nationwide and will soon be expanded to cover the fisheries sector. ###

DA positions for commercial planting of malunggay

BIOLIFE NEWS SERVICE 4137293 /3728560
MEDIA RELEASE

DA positions for commercial planting of malunggay

Naga City—From being a lowly vegetable in our backyards, moringa oleifera, popularly known as “malunggay” is now making its golden comeback thru the wonders of biotechnology.

With the ardent desire to propel this vision into reality, the Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal Foundation (CCMF), in cooperation with the Kalunggay Farmers of Camarines Sur (KFCS) formally launched their partnership with SECURA International at the Madrigal Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Ateneo de Naga University on December 11, 2007.
Director Alice Ilaga, Director of the Biotechnology Program Office of the Department of Agriculture said that “malunggay” is a vegetable with exceptional qualities and uses that are still unknown to many.

Rediscovering other useful aspects of malunggay, she said, would open opportunities and business prospects. This in turn, she added, could be one of the best routes out of poverty that is crippling our society.
According to Ilaga, the Department of Agriculture is now strategically positioning itself for the commercial planting of malunggay seeds for malunggay oil production. They are also building linkages with various national government agencies, particularly with the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to study the development package technology using the Nicaraguan experience as a model.

Based on research, malunggay is considered as one of the most nutritious vegetables. It has twice the calcium found in milk, possesses three times the potassium found in bananas and contains ¾ of the iron found in spinach.
Malunggay’s leaves, flowers and pods are used as cooking ingredients. The oil extracted from its leaves is far superior to olive oil. It also serves as a less costly and readily available alternative natural medicine for common illnesses.
Malunggay can also be used to make other foods more nutritious by simply processing the its fresh leaves into powder and adding them to soups, sauces, breads, biscuits and practically in every food that we serve on the table.

The seeds can be used as source of edible oil, medicine, cosmetic ingredient, lubricant ,and as biofuel. The malunggay cake or “sapal” can still be used as biofertilizer , animal food ingredient and can also be used in water treatment.

The signing of the Purchase Agreement between KFCS represented by its President, former Naga City Councilor Julian Lavadia and SECURA International thru its President, Mr. Danny Manayaga sealed the partnership that wound bind the two parties in mass-producing the power veggie into a viable commodity.

Aside from Director Ilaga, the signing was also witnessed by Provincial Director Edna Tejada of the Department of Trade and Industry, Consuelo Chito Madrigal Foundation Executive Officer Fr. Wilmer Tria , Ms. Dolores Velasco, former World Bank Consultant, Ateneo de Naga President Rev. Fr. Joel E.Tabora, SJ and representatives from various government and private sectors. (biolife news service)

PHILIPPINES INKS BIOFUELS DEAL WITH PRAJ INDUSTRIES OF INDIA
; Posted: 06:32 AM 7 Stocks You Need To Know For Tomorrow -- Free Newsletter
NEW DELHI,

-- The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday sealed a biofuels agreement with an India-based energy company.

In an interview aboard chartered Philippine Airlines flight from Mumbai to New Delhi, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed between the Philippines and PRAJ Industries (BSE:522205) of India is aimed to help develop the country's biofuels industry.

Yap said this is through the propagation of new farming technologies and investments in the planting of sweet sorghum and other crops such as cassava and sugarcane to be used as feedstock and in the production of bio-ethanol.

Under the MOA, the DA and PRAJ Industries Limited, a company that develops technologies and equipment for biofuels production, have agreed to team up "for feedstock development and setting up of bio-fuel production plants" in the Philippines.

The DA, through the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC), has committed to promote the country's fast-growing biofuels sector by way of generating awareness on the use of agricultural feed stocks used for ethanol and biodiesel production.

Under the MOA, PRAJ will provide assistance and extend its knowledge in identifying varieties of sweet sorghum and jatropha for cultivation trials.

"PRAJ will also provide the design, engineering and supply the bio-fuel production plants to potential investors in the bio-fuel sector based on mutually agreed terms and conditions on a case-to-case basis," Yap said.

For his part, he said, the DA will identify land for feedstock development; encourage and assist farmers in cultivating sweet sorghum, sugarcane, cassava or jatropha for the production of alternative clean energy; and help in attracting investments for commercial scale feedstock production and construction of bio-diesel and bio-ethanol plants.

Top officials of PRAJ Industries paid a courtesy call to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was on a state visit to India.

She was pleased to learn that by March 2008, PRAJ Industries will be producing bio-ethanol fuel in Ormoc.

Yap said PRAJ will be "propagating sweet sorghum technology to our farmers."

Aside from sweet sorghum, he said, the Indian firm would like to develop bio-ethanol fuel from sugarcane and cassava.

Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat signed the MOA on behalf of the DA, while Shashank Inamdar, managing director and CEO of PRAJ, signed on behalf of the company.

PRAJ is a publicly listed company in the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India. It has provided distillery and brewery wastewater treatment and utilization solutions to over 35 countries worldwide.

The company now has diversified its range of solutions such as in fermentation systems that include technology packages for multiple feedstock including cane-molasses, cane juice and filtrate, starch-based raw materials like corn, sorghum, wheat, tapioca, tropical sugar-beet, among others.

Last January, President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Act, which aims to ease the country's imports on petroleum products, which are dollar-draining and pollution-generating.

Yap expects the ever-growing global demand for crops-based alternative clean fuels to energize Philippine farms, increase the profitability of small stakeholders in the agriculture sector, and reduce the countrys dependence on imported energy sources.

The DA is now in the process of identifying for private sector investments more than 400,000 hectares of land to plant crops that would be used as feedstock and for biofuels production.

Of these, about 90,000 hectares are located in the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle; 10,000 hectares in Central Philippines; and 300,000 in Agribusiness Mindanao.

The lands being processed so far already represent 78 per cent of the 600,000 hectares targeted for development this year.

These lands would be planted to cassava, oil palm, coconut, sugarcane, jatropha, and other crops used as feedstock for projects that would be set up by private investors cashing in on the biofuels boom in the global market.

Investors are planning to set up plants in the Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern and Central Mindanao, and the Davao region either through straight purchases, lease arrangements, contract growing or joint ventures.

In all these arrangements, farmers stand to earn more through profit sharing, guaranteed income packages or straight purchases of harvested crops, and benefit from new planting technologies that would create more jobs and boost production.

(PNA)

Page last updated at 09:51 GMT, Thursday, 17 April 2008 10:51 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Action to meet Asian rice crisis

The Philippines wants to reduce its reliance on rice imports

The authorities in China and the Philippines have vowed to take fresh action to tackle the escalating cost of staple foods, particularly rice.

Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao said food inflation was the country's most "prominent" economic problem and urged efforts to boost grain output.

Food prices in China have risen more than 20% so far this year.

Manila, meanwhile, has banned all future conversion of farmland for uses other than agricultural production.

Social unrest

There have been warnings of dire economic consequences for developing countries across Asia and increased social unrest in wealthier nations should food prices continue to rise at their current rate.

The wholesale price of rice, a staple product for more than 2.5 billion people across the continent, has more than doubled in the past three months, while global supplies have fallen to a thirty-year low.

Against this backdrop, the UN's World Food Programme has said it will cost an extra $160m (£81m) a year to feed Asia's poorest people.

Reacting to the spiral in food prices, the Chinese Premier acknowledged that food costs were "high" and said controlling prices should be a priority for the government.

As rice prices rise, the queues for the staple food lengthen

However, he announced no specific measures to increase farm output, instead reminding administrative regions of the need to follow government directives on the economy.

The Philippine government, on the other hand, is acting to protect farmland by indefinitely ring-fencing it for agricultural use.

Agriculture Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said the move would stop the "unabated" transformation of farmland into residential property developments.

The Philippines is struggling to grow enough rice to provide for its 90 million strong population and is heavily reliant on exports from Thailand and Vietnam.

Ministers recently pledged to spend $1bn to become self-sufficient in rice by 2010.

DA increases seed subsidy to rice farmers

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:06pm (Mla time) 04/19/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Agriculture has increased its seed subsidy for rice farmers to caution the impact of the rising cost of seeds and to further increase rice production for 2008.

Frisco Malabanan, director of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani program (GMA, Golden Bountiful Harvest), said that from a 50-50 seed subsidy program, the DA would provide farmers as much as P1,500 in subsidy per 40-kilogram bag of hybrid seeds; P760 per bag of certified seeds; and P440 per bag of good, quality seeds.

He said at least P1.292 billion would be invested for seed subsidies on top of location-specific interventions.

In an interview, Malabanan said that hybrid seeds have been costing at least P2,900 a bag while certified seeds cost P1,200 a bag.

Malabanan, however, clarified that the seed subsidy would not cover the whole 2.54 million hectares of rice lands that have been programmed to be planted in the coming wet season.

About 40 kilos of seeds are needed for every hectare of rice land to produce at least 4 to 4.5 metric tons.

He explained that the DA-GMA rice program would be able to provide seed subsidy to cover 120,000 hectares of land planted to hybrid seeds; around 1 million hectares to certified seeds; and 800,000 hectares to good quality seeds.

Hybrid seeds are expected to yield a conservative average of 150 cavans per hectare; certified seeds, 90 to 110 cavans; and good, quality seeds, 90 to 100 cavans.

"Those that cannot be covered by the subsidy, we will provide farmers with location specific interventions (LSIs) to increase productivity. At least P240 to P300 a hectare had been earmarked for LSIs," Malabanan said.

This meant, he said, that the DA would have to allocate at least P180 million in subsidies for hybrid seeds; P760 million for certified seeds; and P352 million for good quality seeds for the coming wet planting season alone, on top of the budget needed for LSIs.

"Of course we also have allocated budgets for other areas of rice production such as research and development, small water impounding projects and restoration of irrigation systems," he said.

He added that the DA's priority was to finish the rehabilitation of close to 400,000 hectares of irrigable lands in the country's top rice producing provinces by 2010.

According to Malabanan, they are now meeting with seed producers to provide sufficient planting materials in preparation for the dry season of 2009.

"We need to allocate at least 15,000 hectares for seed production for certified seeds alone. Each hectare is estimated to produce at least 100 bags a hectare," he said.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said he expected a record high rice yield of 8.5 million metric tons in the dry season harvest of 2009, with the help of the P5-billion subsidy recently given by the government.

Yap said this would represent a huge leap from the estimated 7 to 7.2 million metric tons harvest for this year's dry season. The dry season runs from November to April the following year.

As this developed, militant groups said on Saturday that the P50-billion loss the government would incur by importing rice and selling them at subsidized prices should be used instead to boost palay production and to buy more palay from farmers.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas warned that the rice crisis could get worse if the government would only resort to importation to solve the shortage.

“P50 billion is P50 billion. The government should utilize public funds for domestic production and allocations of significant and productive subsidies to palay farmers, rather than proceed with its anarchy of rice importation at the expense of local producers and the tax paying public,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

Hicap said the government should instead allot at least P25 billion for the repair and construction of more irrigation systems, support funds for farm implements and fertilizers, support infrastructure such as post-harvest facilities and farm-to-market roads, and the utilization of public lands and idle lands for rice production.

KMP chair Rafael Mariano, meanwhile, cited the need for a broad alliance of farmers and consumers not just to monitor the price of rice but to protect the food security of the nation.

“At the short term, immediate price controls should be imposed on rice. NFA local palay procurement should be increased and the rice cartel should be dismantled,” Mariano said.

KMP and Pamalakaya also pressed Malacañang, and the trade and agriculture departments to roll back the prices of rice to the December 2007 levels.

With a report from Jerome Aning

Thailand, Vietnam will still sell rice to RP: DA chief

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on Saturday said Vietnam and Thailand have committed to sell the Philippines its rice supplies amid reports the world’s biggest rice exporters might not participate in the Philippine tender on May 5.

Yap said a Vietnamese official told him in a letter that Vietnam would still sell rice to the Philippines but requested that the transaction be on a government-to-government basis.

"Vietnam has more than a nine percent inflation rate. So they said, if you want to buy rice from us, we will comply with our commitment. But let it be a government-to-government transaction. That is what I am taking care of right now," Yap said in an interview on Vice President Noli de Castro’s radio program "Para Sa ‘Yo Bayan."

The Department of Agriculture (DA) chief said Vietnam feared that the Philippines’ aggressive importation of rice might drive up rice prices in the world market, which would also affect the Vietnamese.

Yap said the government-to-government procurement of rice is also "favorable" for the country, noting that Vietnam assured him that the cost will be lower than the prices in the international market.

He said his office has already submitted the documents to the Government Procurement Policy Board, and he has asked Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya look into the alternative mode of procurements allowed under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Yap also said Thailand, the world’s leading rice exporter, will also sell rice to the country despite reports that the Thai government would not join the Philippine tender. He said Thailand merely did not agree with private exporters requests for a sovereign guarantee.

On Friday, Yap announced that the National Food Authority (NFA) has bought enough imported rice to meet domestic demand, while the remaining tenders would go to boosting buffer stocks.

The Philippines, the world's biggest importer of rice, has bought about 1.6 million tons so far for 2008. It has set a tender of 675,000 tons next week.

The DA and the International Rice Research Institute also presented to President Arroyo a new plan that seeks to attain rice sufficiency for the country in the next three years.

Greenpeace refutes DA assurance on GMO rice

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:23:00

MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is “uninformed” about the issue of genetically-modified organisms (GMO) in US rice imports, an international environmentalist group said Wednesday.

In a statement, Daniel Ocampo, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Sustainable Agriculture campaigner, said, “The DA was either lying or uninformed when it assured consumers that US GMO rice has the seal of approval of international food safety agencies. Contrary to the DA's claims, the GMO rice LL601 has not been approved anywhere in the world outside of the United States.”

DA issued a statement last Friday refuting the claim of Greenpeace that at least two brands of US commercial rice sold in public markets were allegedly contaminated by at least two GMO strains, one of which was LL601.

Greenpeace identified the two brands of US rice as Blue Ribbon Texas Long Grain and Rice Land Arkansas Long Grain. These brands were said to be sold in all S&R Supermarkets in Metro Manila.

However, DA said that the two brands have yet to be shipped in the country. DA also said that the GMO strain LL601 was safe for consumption as certified by the US Food and Drugs Authority (USFDA).

But Greenpeace disputed this claim.

“Greenpeace knows that there have been no findings of safety of the GMO rice LL601 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), nor the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), nor the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). And for the DA's own GMO regulators to claim the opposite is completely unbelievable. We are convinced this puts into question the DA's credibility, their honesty and integrity, with regard to GMO assessments," Ocampo said.

Greenpeace also questioned the DA’s “suspicious lack of transparency” in the method used for testing rice for GMA strain. Ocampo said the lateral flow method used by DA to test rice imports was unacceptable.

“Using the lateral flow or strip test to determine GMO content is not an acceptable protocol for detecting LL601 or LL62 GMO rice under both the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and European Union standards,” Ocampo said.

The environmentalist group is calling on the DA to regulate US rice imports in the country for GMO safety and to conduct a thorough testing of rice imports to ensure that they are GMO-free.

DA regional officials ordered to link up with SUCs
Manila (23 May) -- Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture has given marching orders to DA regional executive directors (REDs) to link up right away with State Universities and Colleges (SUCS) and work on collaborative agricultural extension services for farmers and fisherfolk in pursuit not just of the rice self-sufficiency program but of other food security initiatives as well.

In a Pasig City consultative meeting with heads of 40 SUCs nationwide, Yap underscored the importance for these educational institutions to help deliver vital extension services in the countryside, more so now that the Department is carrying out a first-ever rice self-sufficiency plan that covers all of the country's over 4 million hectares of palay fields and involves local government unit executives plus devolved agricultural technicians now under LGUs.

"A close partnership between the DA and SUCs is very important not only in further raising productivity in palay and other agricultural commodities, but also in ensuring greater profitability for Philippine agriculture's stakeholders, especially the small farmers and fisherfolk," Yap said during the DA-SUC Collaborative Service Consultative Forum at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Pasig City.

Yap said the REDs should get in touch at once with LGU executives in their areas of jurisdiction in order to form provincial teams headed by the governors and composed of, among others, representatives from SUCs and other concerned sectors who will come up with specific productivity programs for palay and other crops that are tailor-fit to their respective regions and provinces.

About 170 officials of 40 SUCs attended the daylong forum at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel on Wednesday.

Among those who attended the meeting were Chancellors Luis Rey Velasco of the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Laguna and Glenn Aguilar of UP Visayas in Iloilo; and presidents Ruben Sevilleja of the Central Luzon State University, Rogelio Colting of the Benguet State University, Miriam Pascua of the Mariano Marcos State University, Romeo Quilang of the Isabela State University, Honorio Soriano Jr. of the Pampanga Agricultural College, Olivia De Leon of the University of Rizal System, Marito Bernales of the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College, Benny Palma of the Aklan State University, Pablo Subong Jr. of the West Visayas State University, Macapado Muslim of the Mindanao State University, Joel Limson of the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, Victor Navarra of the Polytechnique State College of Antique, and Ruperto Sangalang of the Cavite State University.

Yap said the DA needs active partners like the SUCs to bring down new technologies to farmers, especially those in the 49 priority provinces that are envisioned under the Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan of 2008-2010 to deliver about 92% of total harvests over the next five planting seasons.

After President Arroyo unveiled her P43.7-billion initiative for Philippine agriculture dubbed FIELDS (Fertilizers, Irrigation and other rural infrastructure, Education and training for farmers, Loans, Dryers and other postharvest facilities and Seeds of the high-yielding varieties), the DA forged at the Century Park Hotel on May 13 an agreement with governors assigning their devolved agricultural extension workers to the DA for the duration of the rice self-sufficiency program.

Yap told the SUC officials that this Memorandum of Agreement with the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) will provide the DA with the critical assistance it needs at the field level to carry out this sufficiency program, which the Department is implementing in tandem with the International Rice Research Institute.

During the Century Park Hotel meeting, 37 governors led by LPP president Loreto Ocampos, who is governor of Misamis occidental, had also committed to funnel a portion of their soon-to-be monetized P12.5 billion-share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for the effective implementation of this grand program that aims to make the country approach self-sufficiency by 2010.

The governors agreed to set aside a portion of their upcoming IRA allocations for the acquisition of fertilizers and other production inputs to be used for the ongoing Quick Turnaround (QTA) Program and for the wet or main planting season.

Yap said this self-sufficiency plan is similar to past intensified rice production programs because it focuses too on irrigation, technology, extension services and credit support for our farmers, but is unique in terms of scope, advances in current rice technology, funding commitment and management approach.

Because the DA's self-sufficiency blueprint applies the "clustering approach" in lieu of being carried out on a large, yet unfocused scale, Yap stressed that the support of governors as "provincial rice champions" along with SUCs behind this grand plan will prove indispensable over the program span of five planting seasons. (These are the wet or main crops this year and in 2009, the dry crops next year and in 2010, and one QTA program inserted between next year's dry and wet crops.)

Yap said that as provincial rice champions, the country's governors should encourage their mayors to develop and implement their own rice self-sufficiency programs to provide focus and direction for each province to produce enough rice for their constituents throughout the year.

SUCs, he said, will prove indispensable in crafting these rice self-sufficiency programs at the local level because their scientists can help determine which technologies can best be applied by farmers in specific provinces or municipalities in order to spell substantial increases in their yields.

This rice self-sufficiency plan was drawn up by the DA with the assistance of seven ex-DA secretaries and two former science secretaries; one former DA undersecretary and two former administrators of the National Food Authority; scientists from IRRI, UP Los Banos and the Philippine Rice Research Institute; and experts from advocacy groups like the National Academy of Science and Technology and Sikap-Strive Foundation. (PIA) [top]

Rainfed Elite Rice Lines Spreading Fast in Cotabato
Many farmers in Cotabato City are getting interested in growing raelines, or rainfed advanced elite rice lines, and it’s not surprising to know why.

First of all, these eight crosses between PSB Rc14 and Matatag lines are moderate non-shattering, have good grain quality, and are drought-tolerant.

Guialuson Datumanong of Datu Shariff in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Cotabato City who has been planting raelines since 2006, shares that despite of drought and saline problems, he has harvested 110 55-kilogram sacks per hectare from Raeline 3 or PR 33382-25-1-1B-B.

Like Datumanong, thirty-four-year-old Dennis Aguha is also very pleased with the performance of raclines for he has harvested more than 50 sacks at 42 to 45 kg per hectare despite of drought.
Unlike traditional varieties such Burdagol, B3, and Masipag which mature at four months after planting, Datumanong said that raelines mature at three months after planting, and perhaps this is why he has observed that more farmers are now planting Raelines 3 and 4 (PR33481-B-1-B-B) and PSB Rc82 than Masipag rice.

He also said that raelines are easier to apply with pesticides because these are not growing as high as five feet like Burdagol, the lodging-prone variety he was using before.

Aside from being drought-tolerant and early maturing, Jonathan Niones. study leader of Rice. Variety Development for Rainfed Lowland Drought submergence and Waterlogged Prone Sub-ecosystems in Mindanao, said that these are also resistant to rice tungro virus and BLB.

On the other hand, Reynaldo Clarete. agricultural technologist in Cotabato City, said that raelines are also soft, have good eating quality, and similar to PSB Rc18.

Today, Clarete adds, approximately 200 hectares in Cotabato are planted to raelines, while in 2005, these are only planted in the one-hectare demonstration site of Phil Rice-M idsayap Plant Breeding team where the local government of Cotabato first witnessed its good performance.

Due to this, the local government supported PhilRice in promoting these lines by giving each farmer-beneficiary 20-kilogram bag of seeds and requiring them to return the same amount after harvest which would be given to other farmers.

The 2006 survey conducted by the Plant Breeding Unit of PhilRice-Midsayap shows that the cooked form of Raeline 3, which is also planted in Lambayong in Sultan Kudarat, Aleosan and Matalam in North Cotabato. Datu Piang in Maguindanao, and in some parts of North Upi had 70 percent acceptability.

On the otherhand, Raeline 8(PR3338225-1-3-B-B), which is also planted in Aleosan and Libungan in North Cotabato, almost got 90 percent acceptability, while PSB Rc14 only got 10 percent acceptability. The study also shows that 80 percent of farmers who tried growing raelines preferred Raeline 3.

Despite of the good performance of raelines, these are only sold at P9.50 per kilo while the Masipag lines are sold at P10; this is why the local government is now looking at the possibility of including raelines in the Masipag lines.

Pinoyagribusiness

LIVESTOCKS => AGRI-NEWS => Topic started by: mikey on March 23, 2008, 12:15:18 AM