Only 22 percent of farmers under DA’s subsidy program served — Dar

MANILA, Philippines — Only 22 percent of the nearly 600,000 farmers under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) amelioration program amid the coronavirus pandemic has been given cash subsidies, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said Thursday.

Based on President Rodrigo Duterte’s fourth report to Congress submitted on April 18, the DA has provided cash subsidy to 52,043 of the 591,246 farmers qualified under the Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) program as of April 14. This is equivalent to 8.8 percent.

But this percentage has increased to 22 percent as of Wednesday, said Dar.

Under the FSRF program, a P5,000 cash subsidy is provided to assist small rice farmers, who plant one hectare or less, located in 24 provinces not covered under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) program, as per an earlier press release of the agriculture department.

Dar said they are now fast-tracking the distribution of the cash subsidy to farmers through over-the-counter withdrawal in Land Bank of the Philippines branches in the country.

“[Noon] ang pamimigay is through ATM so bago ibigay ay gagawa sila ng ATM cards nila at ito nabinbin itong paggawa ng cards kasi may limitasyon din. Ang usapan namin early last week ay over-the-counter scheme na,” Dar said in an interview with radio station DZMM.

(Before, the distribution is done through ATM so they have to first apply for ATM cards but this was stopped because of certain limitations. Now what we talked about early last week is to use an over-the-counter distribution scheme.)

The agriculture secretary also explained that some farmers who are not in their list of beneficiaries are included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) amelioration program.

However, Dar asked municipal agricultural officers to provide an updated list of farmers and fisherfolk in their respective areas to DSWD provincial directors or municipal coordinators.

“Yung hindi pa nakatanggap outside this 591,000, yung mga munisipyo ay pwede naman ilista, gabayan yung mga magsasaka na below the poverty threshold at ibigay ang listahan sa DSWD,” Dar said.

(For those outside the 591,000 beneficiaries, municipal officials can list and guide farmers below the poverty threshold and submit the list to the DSWD.)

“Yun po ang ugnayan natin sa DSWD kagabi para titingnan nila at ma-expand yung database nila at titingnan pa kung anuman ang maibigay na ayuda sa kanila,” he added.

(That’s the coordination we have with DSWD last night and they will look into expanding their database for assistance to farmers.)

Dar assured that those who have yet to receive cash subsidy under the agriculture department’s program will soon be served.

“Ang mensahe ko po don sa kasama sa listahan ng 591,000 under the FSRF ay anytime ibibigay na po through the [over-the-counter scheme] sa mga Land Bank provinces in the country,” Dar said.

(My message for the 591,000 farmers under the FSRF is that the subsidy will be given anytime through over-the-counter scheme in Land Bank provinces in the country.)

“Nabigyan na namin ng abiso ang regional directors at sila ang sasama sa inyo in terms of coordinating itong pamimigay ng financial subsidy for rice farmers sa mga nandyan sa kanayunan,” he added.

(We have advised our regional directors and they will help you in terms of coordination on the distribution of the financial subsidy for rice farmers particularly those in small towns.)

/MUF