CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled on Friday a P48-billion package intended to stimulate the country’s dwindling agriculture sector in the face of a looming food crisis.

At the same time, Arroyo reiterated her administration's intensified efforts to stamp out corruption, including in the agriculture sector, to ensure that "money is spent wisely" and not put to waste.

She also said that she would soon appoint a deputy ombudsman to focus on cases related to agriculture.

At the National Food Summit here, Arroyo summarized the six packages that make up the government's food production drive, calling these "the essential ingredients in making food abundant accessible and affordable."

"It is called FIELDS. F is for fertilizer. I is for irrigation and infrastructure. E is for extension and education. L is for loans and insurance. D is for dryers and other post-harvest facilities. S is for seeds and other genetic materials," Arroyo said.

Breaking down the allocations for each package, Arroyo said she has set aside P500 million from the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund for fertilizer support and production, especially organic fertilizers.

"Specifically, the Department of Agriculture must utilize proven technologies like Bio-N to increase the yields of rice farmers in the current wet season and third crop," she said.

For irrigation and infrastructure, Arroyo directed the National Irrigation Administration to finish the rehabilitation of irrigation systems by 2010 and said the government will spend P6 billion a year on irrigation and 6 billion on infrastructure, "including farm to market roads, roll-on-roll-off ferry ports, and no-frills airports for agricultural cargo."

Arroyo also allocated P2 billion to research and development, and P1 billion each to capability building, trainors and technicians, and the agricultural and fisheries education system.

She said P15 billion in agricultural credits will be made available by government financial institutions.

Earlier, she had announced that the government would release a “rice subsidy” of P5 billion, equivalent to the five percent surplus from the 2007 budget.

Two billion pesos from budget and off-budget sources will also be used to purchase dryers and other post-harvest facilities while, to boost production, Arroyo said the government would spend P2.7 billion and P6.5 billion for hybrid and certified seeds, respectively.

"We have a lot of cleaning-up to do," Arroyo said as she bared her plan to appoint a deputy ombudsman for agriculture.

"Considering the fact that farm spending may now be bigger than defense spending, a deputy ombudsman may be needed in agriculture. The appointment of a deputy ombudsman will be pursuant to our transparency initiative. It will also ensure that money is spent wisely," Arroyo said.

She also prohibited government officials from dealing with fertilizer brokers and agents.

"We have directed our government to crack down on price gouging; increase the supply of rice where necessary; invest more in planting and agricultural modernization; and to provide rice subsidies for our poor. I have delivered rice to the poor and gone to markets across the country to spot-check prices to protect our consumers. We must work harder to grow and breed what we need," Arroyo said.

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