The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR) is completing the distribution of cash assistance to 58,953 farmer-beneficiaries in Abra and Ifugao, the last two provinces in the region to receive aid under the Presidential Assistance for Farmers and Fisherfolk (PAFF).
“There are 58,953 beneficiaries — 23,841 in Abra and the rest in Ifugao. Their names were generated from the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA),” Dr. Leisley Deligen, officer-in-charge of the DA-CAR Field Operations Division, said in an interview Tuesday.
“We will finish the distribution this month so that we can complete the report and move on to the distribution of PAFF assistance for high-value crop farmers, mostly in Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao.”
Each qualified farmer is entitled to PHP2,325 in assistance.
Deligen said distribution schedules were arranged by clusters of municipalities due to the distance of some areas from the provincial capitals.
Distributions in Benguet, Mountain Province, Kalinga and Apayao were completed in June.
A total of 96,080 beneficiaries in Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province were included in the program.
The assistance is part of the PHP10-billion PAFF fund allocated nationwide to provide cash support to farmers and fisherfolk affected by rising production costs, particularly increased prices of farm inputs due to the fuel crisis.
Meanwhile, Deligen said some farmers have raised concerns during distribution activities after finding that their names were not included on the beneficiary list.
“When we ask them if they are registered with the RSBSA, they say they are not,” he said.
He explained that the registry serves as the government’s database for planning, programming and providing assistance to farmers, fisherfolk and other agriculture stakeholders.
“We encourage all farmers planting or growing any crop or raising livestock, and fisherfolk, regardless of the size of their production area, to register in the system so they can be included in government programs,” Deligen said. (PNA)
