By Liza Soriano
MANILA — Senator Cynthia Villar has urged the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) during the Department of Agriculture – Phil Rice Annual Review of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed and Extension Programs to support Filipino farmers to be more competitive.
“I am sponsoring the Rice Tarification Law (RTL) extension bill and I look forward to PhilRice’s support on this,” Villar said.
“When RTL started in 2019, inbred palay production per hectare has been consistently going up from – 3.66 tons per hectare in 2019, 3.95 tons in 2020, and 2023, 4.19 tons, because of the distribution of high-quality inbred seeds to farmers, by PhilRice,” the chairman of Senate agriculture and food committee said.
Through the RTL, PhilRice was being mandated to lead the RCEF Certified Seed Development, Propagation and Distribution Program and co-lead the RCEF Extension Program.
RCEF Rice Program has also synergized and strengthened the local farmers into seed producer cooperatives to support and participate in nationwide high-quality seed production and trade.
At present, there are 164 inbred seed varieties and 15 are new varieties developed by PhilRice under RCEF, the lawmaker said.
(el Amigo/MNM)
