MANILA, Philippines -- To avoid a recurrence of the so-called fertilizer fund scam, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has vowed to enforce ?stricter? monitoring to ensure that funds go to their intended beneficiaries.

In an interview with Senate reporters on Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the department has sought another P780 million for fertilizer next year.

However, instead of using the money for fertilizer to be distributed to farmers, Yap said the agriculture department will use it for ?capacity building.?

?We are shifting [from] fertilizer support to balanced fertilization so those farm communities that are going to go into organic agriculture and organic fertilization, those are the ones we will assist for capacity building, to help farmers produce their own fertilizers rather than buy fertilizers,? he told reporters after defending the proposed P44 billion 2009 budget of his department.

The proposed fund for fertilizer was higher than the P728 million fund in 2004 allegedly used by the administration during the 2004 elections.

In 2004, P728 million intended for fertilizer was allegedly diverted to the campaign kitty of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Then agriculture secretary Jocelyn Bolante has been accused of engineering the scam.

This year, instead of distributing fertilizer to farmers, the DA handed out fertilizer discount coupons.

Yap gave assurances that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent another scam.

He said the DA has created an output monitoring team ?on top of our regular monitoring,? and also tightened the rules on ?the download of funds to foundations.?

?So beyond the rules of the CoA [Commission on Audit], we have added the stricter monitoring on the release of funds,? he said.

Despite the alleged misuse of the fertilizer fund, Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, backed the DA?s proposal for allocation to ensure an adequate supply of rice.

?We need to provide [a] fertilizer subsidy because the high cost of fertilizer has forced rice farmers to reduce the use of it, and when they reduce the use of fertilizer, that means that they also reduce their yield,? Angara said at a press conference.

?So it?s going to be a vicious cycle and the people will be unable to have adequate supply of rice and the result [is that we] will have to import more rice and that means we have to spend more money. So it?s better that we spend 700 million for fertilizer rather than spend P10 billion to import 1 million tons of rice,? he said.