In this photo taken in 2020, a farmer in Tiwi, Albay, collects leftover rice grain under the heat of the sun after putting it on a rice-threshing machine known in Bicol as “paghinimuro.”—MARK ALVIC ESPLANA
Rice farmers have been given more time to claim discount vouchers to buy fertilizers as many of them failed to do so due to the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” (international name: Nalgae). The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the last day of claiming vouchers has been moved from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30. The last day of payment or end of project has been rescheduled from Dec. 2 to Dec. 23. The DA is distributing fertilizer discount vouchers to help mitigate the burden of rising input cost on farmers. It had earmarked P5.85 billion for this initiative, spanning almost 3 million hectares of land nationwide, from its 2022 budget and another P4.1 billion from the unprogrammed funds released to DA regional field offices. —Jordeene B. Lagare