Revival of Japan food aid grant to RP seen

The Japanese government is expected to come up with a decision by mid-February on the appeal of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to revive the country’s annual allocation under the Kennedy Round II (KR II) or the RP-Japan Increased Food Production Program.

"An inter-agency committee of the Japanese government is currently reviewing the matter and will in all likelihood extend the KR II grant to the Philippines within Japan’s fiscal year 2003," Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon Jr. said in a statement.

The Japanese and Philippine government representatives have been holding extensive negotiations for the revival of the commodity grant which was suspended last year.

In 2003, the Japanese government downsized the amount of grants distributed to developing countries under the KR II as its own government struggled to resolve its own budgetary constraints. Last year, only 13 countries out of 50 recipients of KR II were given allocations.

At the same time, the Japanese government is being cautious because it is being closely scrutinized by the Diet, Japan’s legislative body which last year 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.

KR II grants for the Philippines are mostly in the form of fertilizers which were monetized and used to bankroll agriculture projects. The country had been a recipient of the grant from 1977 to 2001.

Non-government organizations in Japan want the KR II stopped, saying recipient countries such as the Philippines have not really made good use of it to eliminate hunger, the primary goal of the program.

Until now, the Philippines has failed to attain self-sufficieny in rice and corn, its major staples.

It has in fact, been increasing its reliance on importation of these commodities to meet the country’s requirements.