BAGUIO CITY – – The Department of Agriculture under the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the national government has allocated P149,960,000 million that is set to be distributed to 29,992 identified COVID – 19 affected farmers in Cordillera under the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) program.
DA – CAR Regional Executive Director Cameron Odsey, in the regular weekly Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CRDRRMC) Regional Task Force COVID – 19 coordination meeting on Wednesday, reported their office already disbursed through the Land Bank of the Philippines a total of P21,595,000 for the P5,000 SAP financial assistance to 4,319 initial farmer beneficiaries.
Odsey also bared that 4,240 farmers in the region have availed of the DA led E – SURE or the Expanded Survival and Recovery program that offers P25,000 no – interest and no collateral loan to marginalized small farmers for a total of P72,025,000.
Under E-SURE, DA – CAR has an allocation of P106 million for 6,749 target beneficiaries, he added.
DA – CAR also has food security programs under the ALPAS (Ahon Lahat, Pagkaing Sapat) Kontra sa COVID – 19, that focus on food production and food availability, accessibility, affordability and price stability.
Odsey reported that under the Rice Resiliency Project (RRP), DA – CAR has a total allocation of P261, 926,000 that targets to help 140,000 Cordillera farmers increase rice sufficiency level by distributing high quality seed and fertilizers for an estimated 68,047 hectares of ricelands in the region.
To date, P2, 500 farmers were already assisted with a total disbursement of P112, 437,000.
Another program is the Urban Agriculture and revitalized Gulayan sa Barangay/Backyard Gardening project that so far assisted 35,631 households. DA CAR has total budget of P12.09 million for vegetable seeds, seedlings and saplings for distribution to households.
For food accessibility, DA – CAR also have the KADIWA on Wheels that already sold 20.078 metric tons of assorted veggies with P756.920 sales generated; the KADIWA Express that assisted in the linkages of farmers group to LGUs, government institutions and NGOs and sold a total of 568.85 metric tons of assorted veggies with around P17.15 million sales generated; and the KADIWA Retail Store at the DA Regional Office that have already sold 10.21 MTs of assorted veggies from 5 farmers group and generated a total sales of P737,591.
For food affordability and price stability, DA –CAR has regular monitoring through the “Bantay Presyo Monitoring Team” in partnership with the different local price monitoring councils in the region, Odsey added. **JDP/CCD-PIA CAR
