RICE FARMERS. About 173,850 rice farmer-beneficiaries in Ilocos Region have received their cash assistance under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) as of Jan. 30, 2024. Funding for the program came from excess tariff under the Rice Tariffication Law implementation in 2022. (PNA File Photo)
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – More than 74 percent of Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) beneficiaries in Ilocos Region have received their PHP5,000 cash assistance as of Jan. 30.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Ilocos Region information officer Vida Cacal, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said about 173,850 of the 234,865 rice farmers, excluding those whose enrollment were generated in 2023, have collected the cash aid, aimed to cushion the impact of the El Niño phenomenon and the rising cost of production.
The DA has allocated PHP1.1 billion for the unconditional financial assistance program for the region, funded by the excess tariff under the Rice Tariffication Law in 2022.
Cacal said qualified rice farmer beneficiaries are those who are farming not more than two hectares of land and are registered in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture.
Of the total number of beneficiaries, 98,812 are from Pangasinan; 39,495 from La Union; 46,705 from Ilocos Sur; and 49,853 from Ilocos Norte.
“The program aims to enable farmers to cope with increasing cost of production to sustain their productivity,” she said.
Cacal said some 42,917 new beneficiaries from the region will also receive the cash assistance this year.
“There are new beneficiaries from the 2023 onwards registration but the funding is still being processed,” she added.
Meanwhile, Cacal said 30 farmers, who have a total of 36 hectares of land in Barangay Evangelista in Tayug, Pangasinan, have reported total damage of rice crops due to the dry spell.
“Based on their assessment, it was beyond recovery,” she said.
The farmers requested corn seeds subsidy from DA to cover their losses, she added. (PNA)
