A farmer transplant rice seedlings at a rice discipline in Pulilan, Bulacan on Monday, February 26, 2024. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The federal government is concentrating on to help some 50,000 rice farmers this dry cropping season below a brand new program that gives low-cost credit score and market assist, the Improvement Financial institution of the Philippines (DBP) mentioned.
DBP board director Roberto Antonio mentioned they plan to implement the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid (APP) in elements of Luzon, and ultimately within the Visayas and Mindanao, following its launch in Guimba city in Nueva Ecija province.
“The instruction to us is to look into implementing this system in one other space in Nueva Ecija,” Antonio mentioned in a briefing in Quezon Metropolis (translated from Filipino). “We can be going as much as CAR (Cordillera Administrative Area), Pangasinan and Isabela.”
READ: DA to finish coverage evaluate by early 2025 to simplify guidelines for farmers
On his 67th birthday final week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. unveiled the APP, a program of the DBP in partnership with the Division of Agriculture (DA).
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Some 5,000 rice farmers in Guimba are a part of the APP program, with Antonio saying that research are underway to increase its protection to incorporate farmers who domesticate different crops.
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Intervention monitoring
The goal is to enlist 1 million farmers who will produce 5 tons every below the initiative.
“That is enormous assist in attaining our rice requirement,” he added. “We’re addressing each the standing order of our President, which is [to work toward] meals safety and sustainability.”
Via the APP mortgage program, rice farmers will obtain intervention monitoring playing cards that can be utilized to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and ameliorants, and pay for providers of accredited retailers of Planters Merchandise Inc.
The DA and the DBP initially allotted P3 billion for this system, which goals to offer a mixture of low-interest loans and subsistence allowances to certified beneficiaries.
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Rice farmers tilling a minimum of one hectare of farmland and who’re registered below the DA’s Registry System for Fundamental Sectors in Agriculture are eligible.
Every farmer will obtain P58,000, together with a subsistence allowance of P32,000 (or P8,000 a month), which can be launched in tranches inside 4 months. They may also obtain a subsidy of P14,500 per hectare for inputs, providers and insurance coverage.
Antonio mentioned the mortgage facility goals to interrupt the cycle of rice farmers resorting to loans that carry excessive rates of interest. As such, this system goals to uplift their dwelling situations.
“Due to this, we’re lifting the burden of paying excessive rates of interest. In trade, we would like them (rice farmers) to promote 5 tons of their produce to the NFA (Nationwide Meals Authority) at P21 per kilogram,” he mentioned.
In a press release earlier, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. mentioned this system would assure a “respectable” larger revenue for rice farmers and scale back the amount of rice importation.
Antonio defined that the APP has a “money seize mechanism” because the allotted cash for the mortgage program will flow into through the planting season.
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Within the Philippines, rice has two planting seasons: dry cropping season (September to February) and moist cropping season (April to August). INQ
