MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Agriculture (DA) has asked for immediate release of the P4 billion President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has promised to earmark for projects related to improving farm production.

In her State of the Nation Address in July, the President had said that her administration would allocate P4 billion out of its income from Malampaya Natural Gas Project for the farm sector.

The DA coursed its request through the Department of Finance (DoF).

DOF officials will then certify that the funds are available so that the budget department may release the money.

The funds will go a long way in helping improve food supply in the country, the DA said in a paper presented during a developmental forum held last Wednesday between government economic managers and officials of various lending institutions.

The government has a 60-percent share in the net proceeds from Malampaya’s sale of natural gas.

The remaining 40 percent is the share of a private-sector consortium.

Estimates by the DoF showed that Malampaya’s recoverable cost of capital has dwindled over the years, thereby increasing the net proceeds to be shared by the government and the private-sector consortium.

From an average of 70 percent of gross proceeds in 2001 to 2005, the share of recoverable cost of capital already declined to 20 percent since 2007, according to DoF computations.

Because of this, the government was able to generate P4 billion in additional income from Malampaya, an amount that had remained unprogrammed since the President’s State of the Nation Address.

During that event, Ms Arroyo said the money would be set aside for the farm sector.

The country is now in the grips of high food inflation.

Prices of food, including rice, had been registering record highs in the past months because of increasing demand and steep rise in the cost of fuel, which is an input for fertilizers and pesticides.

The DA, however, said it has implemented programs to help boost farm output and temper the escalation of food prices.

Led by food prices, overall inflation hit 12.2 percent in July from a year ago, the fastest pace in 17 years.

Included in the programs is the fertilizer subsidy for farmers.

In the presentation, the agriculture department said that it had distributed discount coupons to farmers through various local government units.

The discount amounts to P250 per bag of fertilizer.

Other projects include the rehabilitation of a number of irrigation facilities, productivity training and education for farmers, and cheap loans for agricultural workers who want to avail themselves of modern farming technology.

The Philippines is only 92.38 percent self-sufficient in rice.

This means that 7.62 percent of the country’s rice requirements is being shipped in from abroad.

The government has set a goal of making the country 100-percent self-sufficient in rice over the medium term.

To do this, economic managers said, the government would have to beef up its spending for the agriculture sector.