Sen. Imee Marcos, during Thursday’s hearing of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, July 4, 2024, on the proposed amendments to Rice Tariffication Law, questions the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) priorities on research funding for rice varieties, noting that the agency focuses on travel workshops. Marcos also stressed that local government units (LGUs) usually wait for what rice varieties the DA would distribute.
“They depend on what the DA would give them (LGUs),” the senator said. DA officials informed the senator that under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) program, 20 rice varieties are being distributed across the nation and every province can choose five varieties. But Marcos questioned the 110-day period to harvest the rice variety considering that other countries can harvest within 85 days.
“Stop those researches on just anything with numerous travel workshops. I hope you just focus on shortening these 110 days harvest period. With bad weather, the storm is really catching up with the harvest,” Marcos said. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)
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