NextGen Day

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – To help small rice farmers in Eastern Visayas cope with the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated PHP385.2 million in monetary support.

Initial releases were held in Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, and Eastern Samar. Cash aid is being distributed in Samar province, with Northern Samar receiving aid next week, according to Rodel Macapaas, assistant chief of the Department of Agriculture’s regional planning, monitoring, and evaluation division.

Under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program, the goal is to distribute monetary aid to 58,684 rice farmers in the region by the end of the year. The payments began in November of last year.

“While we encourage farmers to utilize the money for farming, we don’t impose any restrictions on how they spend it.” The goal is to relieve our rice farmers of their current economic difficulties,” Macapaas told the Philippine News Agency.

The RFFA gives PHP5,000 monetary support to small rice farmers that grow land that is less than two hectares under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF). A beneficiary must be registered with the Registry System for Agriculture’s Basic Sectors.

The money is coming from the PHP7.6 billion in excess tariffs accumulated under the Rice Tariffication Law in 2019 and 2020.

The tariff allocates PHP5 billion to farm machinery and equipment, PHP3 billion to certified inbred seeds, PHP1 billion to credit, and PHP1 billion to training and extension, totaling PHP10 billion.

The benefit was disbursed by the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines, as previously indicated. These banks may use conduits like rural financial institutions, cooperatives, certified remittance centers, rural banks, and other conduits agreed upon by the DA and the government banks.

The Rice Tariffication Law, passed in February 2019, replaced quantitative limits on rice imports with a 35 percent import tariff.

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