DRY SPELL. A farmer walks across his dried-up rice field in this file photo. The Department of Agriculture in Mimaropa has been extending cash assistance to farmers whose crops were devastated by the dry spell. (PNA photo by Yancy Lim)
CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – Some 1,142 farmers from Mansalay and Bulalacao towns in Oriental Mindoro whose crops have been devastated by the ongoing dry spell have received cash assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The funds that were distributed to the farmers were drawn from the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund–Rice Farmers Financial Assistance Program (RCEF-RFFA), according to the DA’s Mimaropa regional field office (RFO).
Rustico Mortel Generoso, Mansalay’s municipal information officer, said on Friday that 215 farmers from his town received PHP5,000 each on Thursday.
The funds were distributed on the same day the town was placed under a state of calamity due to the destruction caused to the agricultural sector by El Niño.
In Bulalacao town, some 927 farmers whose crops were ruined by the drought received their cash assistance on Wednesday, according to Maria Theresa Carido, alternate focal of Disaster Risk Reduction Management of DA RFO Mimaropa.
A total of 2,559 farmers from the second district of Oriental Mindoro are eligible to receive cash assistance under the RCEF-RFFA program.
The DA has earmarked PHP13,178,850 for the initiative.
Meanwhile, farmers in the Oriental Mindoro’s first district will receive their cash assistance during the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair from March 9 to 10, 2024 in this city.
They can expect to receive the financial support in time for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s visit to the province.
Under the RCEF, those who are qualified for the RFFA Program are palay farmers who are in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and have a farm two hectares and below.
DA Regional Executive Director (RED) Christopher Bañas said they are working out a way to extend long term assistance to affected farmers.
“Aside from the RCEF-RFFA, our office is working on the directives of the Central Office regarding the immediate assistance and long-term assistance which we can still extend to places severely affected by El Niño,” he said in an email.
“So far, we are currently in close coordination with Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) for the indemnity insurance and also with the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) for the Survival and Recovery Loan that the farmers (in local government units with declared state of calamity) may avail. This is up to (a) PHP25,000 loan with no interest,” Bañas added. (PNA)
