As part of the persistent efforts of the government to cushion the impact of the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, the Department of Agriculture has released financial assistance to the farmers of Zamboanga del Sur on January 31.
During the launching of the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program in Pagadian City, 1,200 farmers received the P5,000 cash assistance through cash cards distributed by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
According to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar, the financial assistance program, which is being implemented with LBP and the Development Bank of the Philippines, aims to provide cash grants to smallholder rice farmers who are affected by the episodes of the significant drop in palay farm gate prices.
The initiative also aims to facilitate the access of rice farmers to timely funds for the procurement of needed inputs and enhance their opportunity to improve productivity and profitability.
“Batid naming ang hirap ninyo, kaya naman mahusay naming ipinatutupad ang RTL upang mapaganda ang kita ng mga magsasaka at mapababa ang presyo ng bigas sa mga merkado para sa kapakanan ng lahat,” Dar stressed.
“Bigyan po natin ng pagkakataon ang batas,”he added.
The Secretary added that with the RTL in place, affordable rice is now available in the markets.
“Mas mura na pong nabibili ang bigas sa ngayon,” Dar said.
The RFFA assistance in Zamboanga del Sur will be released to 16,671 farmers, which amounts to a total of P83.355 million.
While in Pagadian City, Dar also distributed more than P70M-worth of farm machineries, equipment, and facilities to farmers groups. These include eight units of combine harvested worth P9.72M, four units of 4-wheel drive tractors amounting to P3.6M, and five units of recirculating dryer worth P13.94M, among others.
Earlier in the day, Dar led the ceremonial turnover of the 13.82-kilometer farm-to-market road project in Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte funded by the World Fund under the Philippine Rural Development Project. The road network which amounting to ₱188.17M will benefit a total of 2,047 households and will connect production areas of rubber and other agricultural commodities to the markets. ### (Adora D. Rodriguez, DA-AFID)
