Cash aid to rice farmers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture and state-run Land Bank of the Philippines continued with the rollout of the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) program to aid rice farmers throughout the country.

The program aims to give P5,000 financial assistance each to rice farmers tilling 0.5 to two hectares of land in 33 provinces nationwide.

The national government allocated P3 billion in 2019 to fund the program, which would benefit a total of 600,000 rice farmers affected by the decrease of palay prices.

Landbank, as a disbursing agent, will distribute P1.5 billion or half of the RFFA program fund to 300,000 rice farmers, while the other half would come from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

A total of 5,822 Landbank cash cards worth P29.1 million have been distributed to rice farmers nationwide since the program was launched last December.

Landbank president and chief executive officer Cecilia Borromeo said the bank continues to strengthen its partnership with the DA by supporting its various programs, such as the RFFA, to further intensify support to small palay farmers.

Farmers from the provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao, Davao de Oro (formerly Compostela Valley), Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Davao Oriental were also identified to receive the assistance from the RFFA program.