Secretary William Dar himself led the launching of the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro on January 21. RFFA is a P5,000 unconditional cash transfer for farmers who acquired losses due to the low farmgate price of palay and the recent typhoons.
A total of P53 million cash assistance were downloaded to the Development Bank of the Philippines to be given to more than 10,619 farmers who till a half hectare to two hectares farm lot in the province.
Farmers from Victoria, Naujan, Pinamalayan, Socorro, Victoria and the City of Calapan were the first to receive the notice of grant which they will withdraw through M. Lhuiller. Other municipalities are scheduled within the week.
Apart from the RFFA, the province will also receive P100M for crop production, P6M for animal production, P115M under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and 2 modules of Solar-Powered Irrigation System with the total worth of P7.1M.
The Secretary also committed to funding the upgrading of Rice Processing Center, Food Terminal and Farm-to-Market Roads in 2021. Likewise, with Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology’s Banana and Lemon Tissue Culture Laboratory and Food Technology Laboratory.
Meanwhile, Governor Humerlito “Bhonz” Dolor expressed his gratitude to the DA for the immediate assistance given to them during when the province was hit by simultaneous typhoons last December. DA through the Regional Office sent assistance through the form of seeds worth P27M.
As such, he gave a “sablay”, a fabric sash woven with Mangyan writings that mean “Pagkakaibigan” or friendship, and a plaque also with an intricate design of Mangyan art. The mementos were to symbolize the harmonious ties between the province and the DA.
