TABUK CITY, Kalinga – – The Office of the City Agricultural Services (OCAS) reported that a total of 3,989 rice farmers in the city received the P5,000 cash assistance from the Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
According to Michelle Lumas-i, agricultural technologist of the OCAS, the distribution of the said subsidy started last March 2020 through the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) aimed at compensating for the income loss of rice farmers due to the drop in palay prices.
Funded through the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) program, the financial assistance will help small rice farmers, tilling up a maximum of two hectares of farm land, buy either farm inputs or food for their families.
Lumas-i said that a total of 7,781 rice farmers are expected to benefit from the RFFA in Tabuk City.
These beneficiaries are enrolled under the Registry System for Basic Services in Agriculture (RSBSA), an electronic compilation or database of basic information of farmers, farm laborers, fishermen and target beneficiaries of agriculture-related programs and services of the government. These groups should be DA-accredited farmer organizations, the minimum requirement in availing agri-fishery related government services particularly programs and projects of the DA.
Meanwhile, City Agriculturist Julibert Aquino said the distribution of the cash assistance was suspended because of the imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), and advised affected rice farmers to wait for the go signal of the OCAS and LBP.
For farmers who have not received rice seeds, Aquino said they go directly to their respective agricultural technician since rice seed distribution is still on-going.
During this ECQ, Aquino reminds farmers to secure farmer’s pass from their respective barangay which will allow them unhampered movement. By Darwin S. Serion