Philippines Uncovers Ag Fraud
15 September 2008 In Central Luzon, 84 people on the list of 650 who were supposed to receive hybrid rice and certified were not identified as beneficiaries, while 86 farmers who were supposed to receive fertilizers did not get any, and another 8% of the 240 farmers supposed to receive seeds said that their signatures on the list were not theirs. COA interviews revealed that “technicians increase(d) the seeds they gave to farmers they favor and compensate(d) the difference by lessening the seeds of other beneficiaries.” Of the 1,345 kilos of rice seeds allotted to beneficiaries in Eastern Visayas, only 54% actually reached the concerned farmers, leaving 624 kilos unaccounted for.
Municipal agricultural officers attributed the discrepancy in the listing to “political intervention.”
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