MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government urged all farmers in the vegetable-producing communities to register with the agriculture department’s Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) to allow them to easily avail of assistance and benefits from the government.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong emphasized the importance for agriculture industry stakeholders to be registered in the established system for concerned government agencies and the local government to easily validate their registration for them to be able to avail of assistance and benefits further improve their productivity.
Further, he added it will also be easier for them to avail of assistance in cases of emergency or during disasters because their identities are already in the database easily accessed to the agriculture department and the local government.
The RSBSA is a registry system established by the agriculture department to cater and establish a database for the country’s agriculture industry stakeholders.
Under the guidelines governing the RSBSA, agriculture industry stakeholders not registered in the system will have difficulties in availing of whatever available assistance and benefits from the government compared to recipients whose data are in the system.
Aside from benefits from the government, Mayor Ayong disclosed that agriculture industry stakeholders registered in the system will be prioritized in the provision of loans from financial institutions impacted by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Benguet is the source of more than 80 percent of the semi-temperate vegetables sold in the different markets around the country that earned the province’s title as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines.
The local chief executive pointed out that agriculture industry stakeholders must grab every opportunity provided by the government to enhance the state of the agriculture industry which serves as the major economic activity and source of livelihood of majority of the people in the province.
He expressed hope that with the inclusion of all farmers in the municipality in the existing registry system, many of them will be able to avail of government and private sector services that will boost the growth of the province’s agriculture sector and regain the vibrance of the economy that heavily relies on vegetable production as the source of income.
The six upland barangays of the municipality are the vegetable-producing communities while its lower barangays are the mineral-rich areas hosting large-scale and small-scale mining operations.
By HENT