Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ)
MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Sunday expressed his high hopes for the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, which he claimed would “contribute immensely to the attainment of the country’s rice sufficiency.”
Last July 7, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the New Agrarian Emancipation Act of 2023, condoning the P58 billion debt of 610,054 farmers, specifically the unpaid amortization, interest, surcharge, and penalties of existing loans of farmers tilling more than 1 million hectares of land.
“I have a strong feeling that the new law would pave the way for our farmers to produce more rice, which is our basic staple, and other crops that they grow in between rice planting,” Romualdez said in a statement.
“Now that our farmers will soon be free of debt, I hope that they will be able to increase their production to at least 100 50-kilo bags per hectare, from the present 60 to 70 cavans. But, of course, the government will have to help along the way,” he added.
Romualdez said this is just the first step in assisting farmers to reach enhanced productivity and attain rice sufficiency in the country.
“The next step is aiding them to those objectives by providing them with or giving them access to credit, technology, equipment, inputs, and other vital support services. Let us leave them to fend for themselves,” he said.
He pointed out that farmers whose agrarian reform debt has been written off may fall into a cycle of debt again if they do not receive help obtaining credit for production, among other needs.
Hence, Romualdez called on concerned agencies to ensure that farmers receive sufficient livelihood support.
“Irrigation is as important as credit and farm inputs in increasing the farmers’ produce. Without irrigation, our rice farming sector will not be able to improve from 60-70 cavans per hectare,” he said.