Pabor si Agriculture Secretary William Dar sa Rice Tariffication Law na isinabatas nito lamang Pebrero.
Ayon kay Dar, ang buwis na makokolekta na ibibigay bilang ayuda sa mga magsasaka ay makatutulong para maparami ang ani ng palay at mapababa ang halaga ng gastos sa pagtatanim ng palay sa bansa.
May kapangyarihan naman aniya ang Presidente na taasan ang taripa ng aangkating bigas para protektahan ang lokal na produksyon.
“I believe and with proper implementation of the 10 billion (pesos) rice competitive enhancement fund, this will make a long, long, long way in making the rice farmer very competitive,” ani Sec. William Dar, Department of Agriculture.
Sinabi rin ni Dar na kahit na nasa 93% ang lokal na produksyon ng palay sa bansa ay maaari namang matiyak ang food security sa pamamagitan ng pagaankat sa 7% kakulangan nito.
”Food security is now becoming the over-arching goal of agriculture. And food security is defined as you create more wealth, you produce what can you produce in the country, and whatever is the gap, say presently 7% of our total rice requirement, you need to import that. So that’s still ensuring food security,” dagdag ni DA Sec. William Dar.
Isa sa dapat din aniyang bigyang pasin ay ang irigasyon sa bansa kung saan nasa 1 milyong ektarya pa ng palayan ang dapat patubigan.
“If there is build… build… build for imports and other infrastructure, there must be build… build.. Build… for irrigation,” sinabi ni Sec. William Dar, Department of Agriculture.
Maaari din aniyang madoble ang kita ng magsasaka sa loob ng 5 taon.
Ayon kay Dar ginawa naman ni outgoing DA Secretary Manny Piñol ang kanyang magagawa.
“Secretary Piñol did his best. The growth of agriculture, it could be better. I have mentioned the growth of agriculture has been eratic for the last 3 years. But we still would like to believe that Sec. Piñol did his best,” ani DA Sec. William Dar.
Si William Dar ay dating naging officer in charge ng DA at Presidential Adviser on Rural Development sa panahon ni dating Pangulong Erap Estrada.
Dati rin siyang director general ng International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) mula 1999 hanggang 2014.
(Rey Pelayo | UNTV News)
