LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap assured the provision of some P25 million as financial assistance to farmers in the vegetable-producing municipalities heavily impacted by the continuing implementation of community quarantine measures to combat the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In his video message, Yap, who chairs the powerful House committee on appropriations, said that the funds will be made available to the qualified beneficiaries this year but coordination is being done by his office with the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR), the League of Municipal Mayors of the Philippines (LMP) Benguet chapter and the different farmers associations and cooperatives to formulate the guidelines on the release of the funds.
He claimed the amount is supposed to be included in the annual budget of the DA next year but he thought it proper to source out the amount to be readily available this year so that heavily impacted farmers will directly benefit from such assistance for them to recover soonest from the serious negative effect of the pandemic, especially to their economic activities and sources of livelihood.
According to him, this financial assistance will just be the initial wave of aid the farmers can access from his office in close coordination with concerned government agencies as he will continue to make the appropriate representations with government offices so that farmers will continue to benefit from the different programs, projects and activities of the government.
Rep. Yap called on the different sectors of the province to await the implementation of various programs, projects and activities of concerned government agencies in their respective communities as he will continue to make the needed representations to the said entities not to leave out Benguet in the priority areas where their programs are situated.
The lawmaker pointed out that the farmers play a key role in the country’s food security because they produce a significant volume of vegetables sold in the different markets around the country.
Based on records obtained from the DA-CAR, farmers from Benguet, some parts of Mountain Province and Ifugao, produce more than 80 percent of the supply of semi-temperate vegetables circulated all over the country which ensures the stability of the supply of agricultural crops for the people living in the different parts of the nation.
Earlier, Rep. Yap asserted he will not only work for the provision of short-term assistance for the farmers and other concerned sectors in the province as he will also be working for the implementation of medium and long-term big-ticket projects that will contribute in improving the state of the vegetable industry.
One of the major projects being eyed by Congressman Yap on this is the provision of processing and packaging facilities at the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center to add value to the vegetables produced by the farmers. By HENT