‘Plant-now-pay-later’ scheme for hybrid rice formulated

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – The Department of Agriculture (DA) has formulated the implementing guidelines for the "Plant-Now-Pay-Later" (PNPL) scheme in the procurement, distribution, and planting of hybrid rice for this year’s dry cropping season (January-April).

The PNPL is in support of the Hybrid Rice Commercialization Program (HRCP), the flagship program of the Arroyo administration’s "Unlad Ani" charted to boost national effort to help make the country self-sufficient in rice at the soonest possible time.

The HRCP uses hybrid rice technology as a means of increasing average yields by 15 percent or higher, thus promoting farmers’ productivity and competitiveness, and the attainment of rice self-sufficiency over the long term.

"The program needs to generate awareness on hybrid rice technology among the general public and promote its adoption among Filipino farmers," DA stated. "The popularization of hybrid rice as a strategic measure in endeavoring to solve shortage in rice should take its place in this early stage."

Thus, the PNPL scheme will be adopted from January to April 2003 as a means to further introduce the hybrid rice technology to more farmers in irrigated areas.

DA said that under the PNPL scheme, only hybrid seeds (PSB Rc72H or "Mestizo") procured by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) will be made available to masterlisted farmers in target areas who are still planting for the specified period.

The DA regional field units (RFUs), in coordination with the local government units (LGUs) and provincial action teams (PAT) will campaign and determine the number of participating farmers and number of bags to be distributed and date of delivery of the seed requirement, including the drop-off points.

PhilRice will deliver the hybrid seeds to the drop-off points. The RFUs, in coordination with the PATs, will then be responsible for the distribution of the seeds to the farmer-participants.

After harvest, farmers who availed themselves of the PNPL can pay in kind or in cash to the nearest National Food Authority (NFA) provincial office.

The NFA and the DA-RFU-designated collecting officers will remit their collections to PhilRice.