Farmers get P219 million cash assistance

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has released P219 million for farmers in Nueva Ecija to compensate farmers’ losses following the deluge of rice imports that dampened local palay prices.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar awarded the cash assistance to some 500 farmers in Cuyapo, Guimba, Science City of Muñoz, Quezon, Talugtog, and Nampicuan in Nueva Ecija.

This is part of the P219 million allocated for the province. About 43,845 rice farmers will be provided with cash assistance.

Using the cash cards released by the Land Bank of the Philippines, farmers can easily withdraw P5,000, which they can use for livelihood projects.

The unconditional cash transfer is available to farmers tilling 0.5 to two hectares of farmland.

“President Duterte has two orders. One is to support our farmers and second is to immediately give them the P5,000 assistance,” Dar said.

“It is up to you where you want to use the money, but we hope you can use it for some livelihood projects,” he said.

The DA is releasing a total of P3 billion to the first 33 rice-producing provinces and qualified farmers selected based on a comparative price analysis that considered the average marketable surplus and profit gains and losses in those provinces.

Aside from the 33 provinces and qualified farmers who will receive the first tranche of the assistance, the DA will look into awarding the same financial aid to provinces that have constantly partnered with the drive of the government to attain food security and help rice farmers.

“We will be providing the same grant to other areas as an incentive,” Dar said.

“The strategy also aims to encourage other provincial government units to take initiative and assist rice farmers affected by the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law, as well as find solutions to address reduced prices of rice,” he said.

The cash assistance forms part of the immediate interventions set up to cushion rice farmers during the transition phase of the implementation of the Rice Tariffication Law.

The law provides for financial assistance for rice farmers to be sourced from the tariff collection of the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF).

It led to the opening up of the market to cheap rice imports which resulted in declining palay farmgate prices in several rice-producing areas.

More than eight months since the passage of the law, palay prices plunged to as low as P7 to P10 per kilogram in some provinces.

There has also been a disparity with the decline of palay prices and the actual rice prices in the retail market.

The drop in palay prices has resulted in huge income losses for rice farmers which are estimated at around P60 billion and are projected to more than double by the end of the year.