Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has assured continued government support for farmers to ease their burden due to soaring oil prices caused by tensions in the Middle East.
“We requested for PHP1 billion QRF (quick response fund) which we might only be able to receive by May but the DA still have PHP50 million fuel subsidy from previous year that we can use in mountainous farming areas, the challenging terrains so that we can bring the produce from Benguet to Metro Manila ang produce at a reasonable, lower cost through government subsidy,” he told farmers from Benguet, Ifugao and Mountain Province in a dialogue at the Benguet Agripinoy Trading Center here Wednesday.
He said the DA will work overtime to get funds for the subsidy, noting that they target to start releasing it by the third week of April.
Tiu Laurel also cited immediate interventions such as logistics assistance for truckers and coordination with other concerned agencies and private entities, such as expressway operators, to allow free access to trucks carrying food.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) earlier said public utility vehicles (PUVs) and cargo trucks will receive toll discounts in the form of rebates from three major expressways beginning March 23, in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call to help ease the burden of rising fuel prices.
The rebate will be credited weekly to qualified PUVs and trucks that pass through the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), and STAR (Southern Tagalog Arterial Road) Tollway.
The program is initially set for two months and may be extended subject to review.
“These are all doable and I will talk with the DOTr, (PPA) Philippine Ports Authority as well as the owners of the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway), SLEX (South Luzon Expressway) and the TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway) and all other expressways who are my friends to be lenient so that we do not add on the prices of food,” Tiu Laurel said.
The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) supplies around 85 percent of the country’s highland vegetable requirements, with most of the produce delivered to Metro Manila, the Visayas and other parts of Luzon.
Meanwhile, the DA-CAR has deployed 19 trucks to bring agricultural produce from farms to direct buyers.
“For the meantime, the most immediate assistance we know feasible is the use of the Kadiwa trucks of the DA and those we donated to the local governments which is coupled with agreements that such can be used to assist farmers in time of crisis and we coordinate with the DA offices in Regions 1, 2 and 3 that links us to offices to buy the farmers’ produce,” DA-CAR regional director Jennilyn Dawayan said.
She added that Kadiwa trucks are accessible to farmers’ cooperatives and associations to ensure that goods are directly brought to their destinations.
Enough rice, veggie supply
Tiu Laurel also maintained that there is a stable supply of vegetables despite producers incurring higher transport costs due to fuel price hikes.
“For every trip, there is an additional PHP4,000, PHP6,000 up to PHP12,000 for 10-wheeler trucks for every trip, which is about PHP1 a kilo additional to the cost of transportation. It’s really a fuel, logistics issue that we are facing right now, and we will act,” he said.
The DA chief also assured that the rice supply is sufficient as the country is now “at the height of the rice harvest season”.
“For March, the target is 1.7 million tons of palay (unhusked rice), itong April 900,000 tons tapos meron tayong importations na pumapasok (For April, we expect 900,000 tons and we still have importations coming in) and after harvest season, baka magdagdag tayo ng (we might increase our) importation to be more food secure. Wala tayong (We have no) food shortage. Ang (The) NFA (National Food Authority) is almost full of rice,” Tiu Laurel said. (PNA)
