Liberalized rice trade in the Philippines not only pulled prices down but also benefited farmers as well as the poor, according to the World Bank. The World Bank deems short-term subsidies—like the so-called "NFA rice" of the past—as ineffective in lifting the food-poor from their plight, as...
The reduction tariff on rice from 35 percent to 15 percent and additional government subsidies will lessen the cost of rice to P29 per kilo for the poor, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said. Balisacan said on Tuesday, June 4, that adjusting the...
LAGUNA – The provincial government turned over agricultural machinery and equipment to 30 farmer cooperatives and associations at the Laguna Provincial Capitol in Sta. Cruz on Monday, April 17. The distribution was made possible through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF)...
Senator Cynthia Villar on Sunday questioned the sudden change in leadership happening at the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), the key agency leading the implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program of the government, saying...
The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has joined the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the distribution of cash grants to Nueva Ecija rice farmers under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund-Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RCEF-RFFA). The RCEF-RFFA program aims to provide unconditional...
The government will distribute direct cash assistance of P5,000 to as many as 59,125 farmers in Nueva Ecija to be funded from the excess rice import tariff collection under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). The Department of Agriculture (DA) formally launched this week RCEF’s Rice...
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) has distributed farm machines worth P439.8 million in Leyte, benefitting 131 qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) from 38 municipalities and cities of the province. The P439.8-million worth of...
The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is now investigating fraudulent activities that have been taking place in the distribution of farm equipment funded by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). In a briefing, PHilMech Executive Director Baldwin...
Three years since the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL), the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech), the government agency tasked to mechanize the local rice sector, has only spent merely 6 percent of its total allocation under the Rice...
Farmers are seeking a Senate probe on the rising cost of fertilizer despite the supposed government interventions to bring down farm inputs in the country through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). (Keith Bacongco/ File photo/ MANILA BULLETIN) In a statement, Kilusang Magbubukid ng...
The House Committees on Agriculture and Food and on Appropriations on Wednesday, May 26, have approved the measure that authorizes the Department of Agriculture (DA) to use the annual tariff revenues in excess of P10-billion as cash assistance to rice farmers until 2024. House Agriculture Committee...
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) is confident that with the government’s mechanization efforts, the production cost of palay will go down by more than 20 percent but by the end of 2024 yet. Photo by Timur Kozmenko on Unsplash Philmech Director for Applied...
