TABUK CITY, Kalinga– The Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has provided assistance to local corn farmers in the form of cash and food subsidy.
Emma Concepcion Fermin of the Office for the City Agricultural Services (OCAS) said that P3,000.00 cash through MLhullier payout and P2,000.00 worth of food subsidy in the form of rice, chicken and eggs withdrawn from the local accredited merchandiser are given to qualified corn farmers.
According to Fermin, 256 corn farmers were assisted during the first release in February of this year, and 74 on the second release last March. Another 509 beneficiaries are set to receive the assistance for this month.
The beneficiaries must have 1.0 hectare and below landholding, and are registered under the Registry System for Basic Services in Agriculture (RSBSA), an electronic compilation or database of basic information of farmers, farm laborers, fishermen and target beneficiaries of agriculture-related programs and services of the government such as DA-accredited farmer organizations.
Based on the records of the OCAS, there are at least 2,980 registered corn farmers in the city.
One of the beneficiaries who received the assistance from DA was Rex Bumokit, from Barangay Calaccad, who has been farming corn for more than a decade now expressed his gratitude to DA and the city government through the OCAS. He said that the assistance will definitely help him especially during this time of pandemic.
Meanwhile, City Mayor Darwin Estrañero assured he will continue to support local corn farmers. “Corn is one of the major agricultural crops in the city that provide livelihood opportunity to the a lot of people,” he said. By Darwin S. Serion