ILOILO City – To help small rice farmers affected by the falling prices of palay and the deluge of imported rice, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated P3 billion for unconditional cash transfers.
The targets are some 600,000 rice farmers from Iloilo and 32 other provinces.
According to Engineer Roy Abaya of DA’s Agriculture Field Programs Operational Planning Division, rice farmers with half a hectare to two hectares of rice land will receive P5,000 each.
Abaya was here recently for the National Rice Industry Stakeholders Conference.
Qualified farmers have to register with their respective local government units. The Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) is currently being updated.
Aside from the P3 billion for this unconditional cash transfer, the DA also has P10 billion for its Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).
According to DA assistant secretary Andrew Villacorta, there is P2.5 billion, too, for the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance (SURE Aid) program, extending a P15,000 zero-interest loan payable in eight years to farmers tilling one hectare or less of farm lot planted to rice. Around 166,000 farmers are the target beneficiaries.
“We hope to release the fund before the end of the year,” said Villacorta.
Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) has a P7-billion budget to procure palay directly from farmers. Of this, it has already bought 10.25 million bags as of the second week of November./PN
