By Katrina Gracia Consebido
President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he will review the P10 billion allocation to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under the Rice Tariffication Law in his administration.
According to Marcos, a part of the law that should be reviewed is the reinvestment on Filipino farmers, mechanization, and post-harvest facilities.
“Well if there is one part of the rice tariffication, it is the area wherein we reinvest the amount of funding that we reinvest for our farmers, and for mechanization, and post-harvest facilities which is part of the rice tariffication,” he said in a press briefing on Monday, June 20.
“There’s 10 billion [pesos] that is returned to the farming community,” he noted, adding that there is a need to “boost production” and add support to the local farmers.
“Maybe we can have a look at that (P10 billion) and see, maybe, that now that we are in a situation where we very much have to boost production and we very much have to support the farmers, maybe we can look at that and hopefully increase it,” he said.
Marcos announced in the same briefing that he will be leading the Department of Agriculture to prioritize addressing the huge challenges and problems the agriculture sector is facing. – ag
