More than 8,000 rice farmers in Negros Oriental receive P5T cash subsidy

The Department of Agriculture (DA) through Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) is now distributing the P5,000 Financial Subsidy for Rice Farmer (FSRF) in Negros Oriental. 

The province registered a total of 8,668 FSRF-eligible rice farmers who will receive P5,000 each with a total subsidized amount of P43.3 million worth of financial assistance. 

The cash subsidy is part of the DA’s initiatives to assist small rice farmers, tilling 1 hectare or less, listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and not covered under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) program. 

Director Salvador Diputado, said that based on the LBP schedule of distribution, almost all municipalities have already covered in the distribution of the FSRF. The distribution, Diputado said is done in the different LBP branches or by an onsite distribution. "Usahay, moadto ang LBP personnel sa mga lugar aron magdistribute sa cash," Diputado added.(Sometimes, the LBP personnel will go to the muncipalities to distribute the cash).

"Now that we are gearing for the wet season planting and with this pandemic we are facing, I encouraged our rice farmers to use their cash assistance wisely. With our fertilizer counterparting scheme under the Rice Resiliency Program (RRP), our farmers can use the cash for the purchase of fertilizers. The DA will counterpart 2 or 3 bags of the fertilizer requirement if they (farmers) will go into inbred or hybrid rice production, respectively," he said.