DA grants Kalinga rice farmers 5K cash assistance
TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Some 12,000 Kalinga farmers received PhP5,000 cash assistance from the Department of Agriculture through the agency’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) – Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) recently.
The DA was able to dole out until last Sunday recognized 5,286 Tabuk rice growers who were all registered under the Registry for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RBSA).
DA – Cordillera regional rice coordinator Edwin Joseph Franco said the beneficiaries have a landholding of two hectares and a minimum of 2,500 square meters and only one per household was accommodated.
The cash assistance was aimed to help farmers affected by the implementation of the Republic Act (Rice Tariffication Law) that resulted in the low price of palay in the country.
The fund for the dole out, said Franco, came from the excess collection on rice tariff worth PhP83 billion. Franco told the farmers-beneficiaries to use the amount to buy agricultural inputs and not utilize it for vices.
John Paticawen, a resident of Barangay Bulanao Norte who has been a farmer for 60 years, thanked the DA for the financial help, which he said will be used to purchase fertilizers for his rice farm.
Meanwhile, the Office for City Agricultural Services (OFCAS) is encouraging farmers to register with the RSBSA to take advantage of the national government’s DA programs and services.
Pigeon Lobien/ABN
