Updated farmers’ registry to exclude farm workers – DA

MANILA, Philippines — Farm workers will be excluded from the government’s official registry of farmers nationwide as the Department of Agriculture undertakes cleansing of the list, a DA official announced yesterday.

Agriculture Undersecretary for operations Roger Navarro said farm workers should not be part of the official farmers database since they do not own the farms that they are working on.

This means that farm workers could be ineligible to benefit from various DA programs since the database - the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) – serves as the department’s official list for its beneficiaries.

The removal of farm workers in the department’s database would allow the DA to “use its resources better,” Navarro pointed out.

“Since farm workers are seasonally employed, they should be in the list of other government agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development,” he said.

“We have to make a distinction between a farmer and a farm worker. This will allow us to cleanse the list for better use of our resources,” he added.

Navarro said the department is mobilizing some 16,000 staff nationwide to fast-track the delayed collection, updating and validation of stakeholders’ personal and farm data.

“We were supposed to finish this update last year, but we have so many islands to cover,” Navarro said.

The DA emphasized that the update of the RSBSA is crucial as the database provides the necessary information for its policy planning, implementation and monitoring of projects and interventions.

“Latest estimates suggest there are about 10 million farmers and fisherfolk, many of whom were identified as the poorest in the country. The DA had an initial list of 1.4 million of these stakeholders before the update started,” the agency said.

The DA said it is partnering with the local government units (LGUs) in fast-tracking the update of the RSBSA.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has issued a memorandum that outlined the guidelines that LGUs would follow in updating the RSBSA. — Romina Cabrera