US PL 480 food aid still intact — Montemayor

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor said yesterday the Philippines remains in the list of countries availing of the financial aid package under United States Public Law 480 following assurance from the US Department of Agriculture.

"We were assured by USDA Agriculture Attaché Charles Alexander that he will favorably endorse the generous allocation of the funds for the Philippines under the 2002 package after he expressed satisfaction over the compliance of the Philippine government under the PL 480 program," the DA chief said.

For his part, Agriculture Undresecretary for Finance and Administration Jocelyn Bolante said a top level meeting was held two weeks ago between the USDA and DA to confirm the projects agreed upon last year and also discussed the commodity mix for 2002 suitable to the needs of the Philippine agriculture sector.

The DA chief cited the visit of President Arroyo to Washington last November 2001, among the highlights of which was the commitment of the US government to further increase to $40 million the PL 480 commodity loan program for the Philippines.

He said to date, the DA had used P60 million of the proceeds from the PL 480 loan to support the Fulbright scholarship, expanded human resource development program and the Livelihood Enhancement for Agricultural Loan Productivity project.

Montemayor said another P1.5-billion proceeds from the PL 480 went to municipalities for their various agricultural projects which include post-harvest facilities, irrigation, market assistance and other infrastructure support services.

He said the DA and the USDA jointly agreed in having a portion of the commodity loan proceeds used for Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA)-priority projects in special agriculture and fisheries development zones (SAFDZs) of the municipal governments nationwide in undertaking various farm and fishery development projects in line with the food security and agriculture modernization program of the Arroyo administration.

"On top of that, the Sangguniang Bayan approves such project to ensure that the project complies with its intended purpose," Montemayor said.

The DA chief said the funds, roughly P1 million for each participating town, were being used to create a heightened awareness of the SAFDZs and motivate local government units to engage in AFMA-related projects and job generating activities.

Montemayor stressed that the money being spent by the Philippines under the PL 480 were consistent with the AFMA priorities indicated in the memorandum of agreement with the US.

He expressed elation over the 4.01 percent growth in agriculture last year stressing that the various DA programs are working to propel the economy to positive growth rate despite the global recession.