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MANILA,
Oct. 6 (PNA) -- The committee on agriculture and food of the House of
Representatives has approved House Bill 3837 that would promote and
provide incentives for corporate farming as a means of achieving food
security.
HB
3837, co-authored by Speaker Prospero Nograles and committee chair
Palawan Rep. Abraham Khalil Mitra, seeks to encourage more private
sector participation in agricultural production.
"Deeper
private sector involvement will bring in the most productive inputs and
technologies available to help improve farm business structures in the
country," said Nograles.
He
noted that about 80 percent of landholdings in the country are either
occupied or leased by small farmers, which do not have the necessary
resources and skills to increase farm yields.
Mitra
also echoed the need to increase food productivity especially at this
time of global financial turmoil, as he pointed out that the country
can survive all economic challenges as long as food commodities remain
affordable, especially to the poorest of the poor.
"Food security is our best defense against the raging global financial conflagration," he said.
In
their explanatory note, both legislators said that the country has been
one of the largest importers of rice, accounting for six percent of
total rice imports in 2006-2007, partly due to production efficiency
disparities between domestic and foreign rice producers in addition to
spiraling costs of production inputs.
"The
high cost of oil and fuel-based chemical fertilizers, the prevalence of
crop diseases, the emergence of chemically resistant pests, and the
growing impact of climate change have been largely blamed for the price
spikes in the world market," they pointed out.
And,
with the country's continuing dependence on imported farm inputs,
Nograles said that this can be addressed by requiring the country's
most profitable corporations to engage in agricultural production to
feed their own employees.
Under
the proposed corporate farming measure, corporations and other business
entities shall be required to engage in corporate farming with rice as
their primary crop. Vast tracts of unused public lands can be tapped
for such corporate farms.
Corporations
can also enter into joint venture agreements with farmer beneficiaries
of agrarian reform communities. As such, employers will not only be
able to feed their own employees but also ensure the provision of
adequate supply to local consumers.
For
his part, Mitra said that corporate farming measures would
institutionalize two types of facilitating policies that are relevant
to corporate/contract farming.
One
involves regulatory regime adjustments to reduce transaction costs of
contractual arrangements and the other involves providing incentive
mechanisms to encourage corporate farming.
Mitra
said that this system will help eliminate the chain of middlemen and
bring the producers and processors face-to-face, and in the long-run,
"leads to better allocative efficiency, induces higher private
investment in agriculture, and results in higher outputs, income and
exports."
On
the other hand, the House committee on agriculture and food chair has
expressed opposition to the proposal "to write P3.5 billion bailout
check" to the Quedan And Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor),
batting instead a "restructuring with reforms" that would force the
distressed state-owned agency to go back to its original mandate as
farm credit guarantor.
"There
is a middle ground between funeral rites for Quedancor and its
business-as-usual stance, and that is to retool the agency," said
Mitra.
For starters, he said Malacanang should appoint a full- pledged president and CEO of Quedancor.
"There should be a man at the helm, a professional who can lead the organization to survival," he said.
The current head of Quedancor, Federico A. Espiritu, occupies the CEO post in an acting capacity.
Mitra
sided with finance officials in describing the P3.5 billion requested
by its officers to be infused into Quedancor as "too big."
The
estimate made by Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul that only P475
million was needed to buy time to address creditor concerns could be
the "right rescue package," he said.
Mitra
however admitted that more money may be needed to bring Quedancor back
on its feet, "as the P475 million might only be good enough to stop the
hemorrhage."
He
also suggested that the rehabilitation of Quedancor must be
"employee-driven as there are many old hands in the institution who can
nurse it back to health."
"What we do not need is another politician in between jobs at the helm," he added.
Referring
to its failed multi-billion swine dispersal program, Mitra said
Quedancor should declare a moratorium in this particular area of
operation, "and run after those who ran away with the swine funds."
"Recouping
these funds could be management equity to the war chest needed to
restart Quedancor as a viable corporation," he said.
The
Department of Finance (DoF) said Quedancor owes P11.4 billion to
various banks, including P5 billion from the former Equitable PCI Bank
and the Land Bank of the Philippines through a syndicated loan, and
P1.5 billion in multi-series bonds. (PNA) |