CABANATUAN CITY – Some 100 farmers belonging to progressive organizations camped Tuesday night in front of the National Food Authority (NFA) regional office here to press for increase of government support price on palay Tuesday night.
Ignacio Ortiz, chair of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) – Nueva Ecija deplored the government programs, including mechanization and research, that, he said, did not address the needs of farmers.
He also noted that farmers are reeling from the P11 to P12 a kilo prevailing farm gate price of palay amidst the influx of imported grains in the market.
“Ang NFA ang dapat mamili ng palay mula sa mga magsasaka sa halagang P20 dahil talagang hirap na hirap na ang mga manggagawa sa agrikultura,” Ortiz said.
Before sleeping over by the roadside, in front of NFA compound, the farmers staged brief rallies in front of the Phil- Mech and the PhilRice, both affiliated offices of the Department of Agriculture in Science City of Muñoz.
PhilMech is in charge of developing farm machines for agriculture mechanization while PhilRice is the country’s prime agency for rice research. They are both part of the implementation of the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
“Aanhin ang mechanization kung wala nang sinasaka ang mga magsasaka,” Ortiz said.
He also assailed the proposed golden rice which is under further study at the Phil- Rice compound.
“Ang kanila namang tinutuklas ay nakadepende sa abono at pestisidyo na hindi naman ito talaga ang solusyon sa pagpapaunlad ng agrikutura dahil ang mga ito ay pagaari ng mga multi-national corporation,” he said.
