THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will seek to tap Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the private sector to fund a proposed financing program which would provide farmers with quality seed.

“[I] presented to the officers of the Irrigators’ Association all over the country a novel agricultural financing program which would tap the private sector and the OFWs to allow rice farmers to have access to high-yielding rice seeds and sufficient fertilizer to improve their production,” said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol in a social media post on Thursday.

Mr. Piñol said the proposed program, “Kaibigan at Kaagapay Adopt-A-Farm,” (KAKAF), will take the place of his rejected request for a P20 billion fund to support an easy-access credit program for farmers and fisherfolk.

“It will be the farmers who will specify what variety of rice seed they prefer based on the adaptability to the conditions in their farms and the volume of fertilizer they need,” Mr. Piñol said.

Financing from OFWs or the private sector will be governed by a contract with the farmers’ group to spell out the terms of supply for seed and fertilizer at market prices, according to Mr. Piñol.

The farmers’ groups will manage and collect the payments on the loans and will get a 6% service fee from their own members which will go to their group’s reserve funds.

Mr. Piñol has criticized the slow government procurement process which delays the release of seed to farmers.

“I invited all the major hybrid seed producers in the country and presented to them the (financing) idea. I asked them if they would be willing to give discounts to the (farmers’ groups) who will buy their seeds in bulk. They were all excited about the idea and they said they could give them the discounts that they give to their dealers,” he added.

The DA, Mr. Piñol said will also conduct training for the farmers, provide them with equipment support and insure the farmers under the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. to provide them calamity protection.

Guimaras province will be the pilot area for KAKAF which targets to increase farmers’ production to at least six-metric tons of palay, or unmilled rice, per hectare.

“When the whole 500,000 hectares of irrigated area is covered in the first phase of the KAKAF implementation, I expected the annual paddy rice production of the country to increase by two-million metric tons next year,” he added, which will help the country meet its rice-self sufficiency target. — Janina C. Lim

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