Sen. Villar Guest of Honor at RCEF launch in Isabela
October 12, 2019 – Senator Cynthia Villar was the Guest of Honor at the formal launching of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) in a jampacked Roxas Astrodome in Roxas, Isabela attended by rice farmers of the six congressional districts of Isabela. Villar was recently reelected as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food. She was the primary author of RA 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law that was enacted on February 14, 2019.
In her message to the rice farmers of the province of Isabela, she said that one of the key features of RA 11203 is the creation of the RCEF to protect the rice industry from sudden or extreme price fluctuations. RCEF consists of initial appropriation of P10 billion of the tariff collections on rice imports and shall be appropriated annually for rice farmers. RCEF will support greater farm mechanization, distribution of high-yield inbred seed, expanded rice credit assistance, and rice extension services or education in the rice industry
Senator Villar said that P5 billion was already allocated this year for farm mechanization to benefit 947 rice producing municipalities in the country with total land area of more than one hundred hectares planted with rice to make farmers more competitive and counter the negative impact of the rice tariffication law. This will be utilized as grant-in-aid to eligible farmers’ associations, and registered rice cooperatives and local government units, in the form of rice farm equipment such as tillers, tractors, seeders and dryers that will be implemented by the Philippine Center for Post Harvest Mechanization and Development (PhilMech).
For the RCEF seed program, Villar said that P3 billion was allocated to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) for the development, propagation and promotion of inbred rice seeds to rice farmers and the organization of rice farmers into seed growers associations engaged in seed production and trade.
Villar disclosed that P1 billion of the fund was allocated for the extension services to be shared by PhilMech, PhilRice, Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to teach skills on rice crop production, modern rice farming techniques, seed production, farm mechanization, and knowledge technology transfer through 1,855 farm schools nationwide.
In a related development, the senator revealed that another P1 billion is also available in the form of credit with minimal interest to rice farmers and cooperatives to be managed by Land Bank (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). The DBP has partnered with Nagkaisang Magsasaka ng Isabela Agricultural Cooperative (NMI) and PayMaya, Inc. for financial services to farmers in the form of e-wallet cards. It is currently working with the provincial government of Isabela in the profiling of farmers who are members of the Cooperative who will be receiving the ATM cards through PayMaya.
