Rice farmers in the region registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) will benefit from the support of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) through the use of their Intervention Monitoring Cards (IMC) that will serve as an identification and cash card.
In this year Regional Rice and Local Government Unit Assessment and Planning Workshop held in Baguio City, RSBSA-listed farmers can now have easy access to government interventions under the Rice Farmers’ Financial Assistance (RFFA) worth PhP5,000 each, funded by excess tariffs collected from imported rice provided under the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL).
The RTL or RA 11203 states the farmers financial assistance will be given to rice farmers in the region owning or tilling rice farms two hectares and below.
“Starting this 2024, the Cordillera Administrative Region will suspend the use of vouchers and will begin to use the Intervention Monitoring Card as a means in processing Interventions,” DA-CAR Focal person for Rice Program Edwin Joseph Franco explained.
Minus the yearly allotment for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement (RCEF) program, the remaining funds can be earmarked by Congress for financial assistance to rice farmers, and other purposes that include the titling of farmlands, expanded crop insurance program for rice, and crop diversification.
The IMC is a result of the Agriculture Department’s partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the Rural Bank Association of the Philippines (RBAP), and its service provider.
The IMC includes farmers of other crops, fishers, hog raisers, and other agri-fishery workers and stakeholders.
The registry system contains the names and addresses of legitimate farmers, farm laborers, and fishers, and their respective production areas, among other basic information, which serves as the primary requirement in availing programs and services such as the RCEF, insurance coverage, credit and financing, and farm and fishery inputs, among others.
As of February this year, the region has recorded a 94% enrolment in the RSBSA having a total of 290,195, with 273,994 newly encoded registrants. By JTLlanes
