DA presses for quota under RP-Japan food plan

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will ask the Japanese government to maintain the country’s annual allocation under the Kennedy Round II (KR II) or the RP-Japan Increased Food Production Program.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said the Philippine government’s request will be reiterated by President Arroyo in her official state visit to Japan today.

"We want to…get assurance that we will not be cut off in this year’s allocation," said Lorenzo.

The Japanese government has said it would downsize the amount of grants distributed to developing countries under the KR II as its own government struggles to resolve its own budgetary constraints.

At the same time, the Japanese government is being cautious because it is being closely scrutinized by the Diet, Japan’s legislative body which conducted an inquiry on the alleged mismanagement of the KR II.

The focus of the probe is on the monopoly of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi on the contracts for KR II.

The KR II grants for the Philippines are mostly in the form of fertilizers which were monetized and used to bankroll agriculture projects.

DA sources said the Japanese government may also suspend KR II grants to the Philippines because the utilization of the grants in the past came under heavy fire when questions were raised about its uses, including the beneficiaries of the projects.

Also, these are questions on some P1.77 billion in grants which since 1977, have not been released by the Investment Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Natonal Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The same sources said the amount represents the accumulated grants from the the 21st-25th KR II.

DA sources said the grants, acquired from 1997 to 2001, remains untapped due to bureaucratic entanglements.