DILIMAN, Quezon City – In three years, the Philippines will no longer import rice.

This was the bold declaration of Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso “Procy” J.
Alcala during his presentation of the Agri-Pinoy Program. Alcala explained the intricacies of the
Agri-Pinoy Program, during the National Training of Trainors held at the Agricultural Training
Institute (ATI).

The Agri-Pinoy Program will serve as the banner program on Agriculture for the Aquino
Administration for next six years. The program mainly aims to fully end the importation of rice
and achieve food security in three years.

The “simple and little ways” is how Secretary Alcala described the solutions he presented in
attaining the goal. He specified methods such as looking into the possibility of adapting upland
rice farming as well as promoting unpolished rice which has a higher recovery rate compared to
the polished rice. Secretary Alcala also noted that irrigated land should be increased from 1.3
million hectares to 2 million hectares.

Alcala believes that the extension workers are the key to the success of the program. He said
that he will see to it that the extension workers would be very prepared when they go to the
field. “The important thing is that the people that we are sending to the field is fully equip with
the knowledge and gadgets so that they are well prepared in meeting the people in the
grassroots,” Alcala noted.

The promotion and development of the Program would be spearheaded by the extension workers
who are based in the grassroots. “With your help from the grassroots we can accomplish the
targets that we have set for this program” Alcala said.

Another objective of the Program is to have a seed bank established in every municipality of the
country where certified seeds would be on premium for the farmers. Alcala said that only 20% of
the total number of farmers are using certified seeds while 70% are using poor quality of seeds.
The other 10% are using the hybrid seeds. The goal is to increase the percentage of farmers
using certified seed and having a seed bank would significantly increase the percentage.

“I hope that by 2011 farmers using certified seeds would increase to 45%. This would entail a big
jump for the production of rice” Alcala said.

A unique component of the Program is the involvement of the educational institutions through
the “Gulayan sa Paalaran” Project. The project aims to promote self-help food production
activities and values among children. This project was first established by Alacala when he was
still the congressman of the 2nd district of Quezon Province. Having seen the success of the
project he wanted to incorporate it to the Agri-Pinoy Program. The project will be in partnership
between DA, Department of Education (DEP-ED), Local Government Units (LGUs) and the
Congressmen of each district.

The Program will also have its feedback and feed forward mechanism through the Pinoy
Encounter Dialogue. “Dialogues will be done from Regional level to the provincial and municipal
and down to the barangay level,” Alcala claimed.

A consumer awareness program would also be a part of the program where it will promote
responsible consumption patterns, alternative staple food sources and consumer-producer
matching.

The Secretary ardently hopes that with the new program of the DA, the lives of many Filipinos
would somehow be uplifted. And through agriculture, he believes that this is where he can really
make his contributions to the country.
 “I think I can do something in the industry of agriculture and if we all believe that we can do
something for agriculture then the time will come when the economy rebounds and Filipinos will
feel that there is actually change in our society,” Alcala said in conclusion.(Benedict C.
Natividad)