Farmers’ group urges Yap to probe rice seeds subsidy

A large Northern Luzon-based farmers group recently called on Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to investigate reports that the subsidy scheme for the government’s hybrid rice commercialization program "has not been beneficial to farmers and that there is a high drop out rate among participants in the program."

The West Tanat Multipurpose Cooperative (WTMC) earlier cited Yap’s move to junk subsidies to the agriculture sector in favor of infrastructure development. WTMC spokesperson Melany Aquino said the move "would free up valuable government financial resources and stop massive waste of public funds on questionable subsidy schemes."

In line with this, Aquino questioned reports that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has earmarked some P2.5 billion for the subsidy scheme in 2007.

"If Yap is serious about junking subsidies, why is such a huge amount being allocated to a questioned scheme," Aquino said.

She added that the P2.5 billion "should be used instead to construct grain driers, storage facilities and more farm-to-market roads." The funds should benefit farmers, not preferred suppliers, she underscored.

She also asked Yap to "conduct a thorough study on the serious damage that the subsidy scheme may have inflicted on President Arroyo’s hybrid rice program."

Aquino pointed out that the subsidy "handcuffed farmers to a single supplier’s seed variety."

The farmers lost the freedom of choice, she pointed out. By subsidizing a preferred supplier, the program anchored its fate on the success or failure of one single variety, she explained.

Aquino also asked Yap to "bare the true state of the hybrid rice program". The parties responsible for the retarded progress of this program should be held accountable, she added.