BONTOC, Mountain Province – More than one thousand newly-registered farmer-beneficiaries under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program for CY 2023 received their PhP5,000 cash assistance each during the RFFA distribution caravan held at the Eyeb Open Gym on May 24, 2024.
Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr., together with Vice Governor Francis O. Tauli, Board Members (BM) Ezra Samson A. Gomez and Henry D. Bastian, Jr., Assistant Agricultural Program Coordination Officer of Mountain Province (MP) David I. Sumalag, Office of the Provincial Agriculturist Officer-in-Charge Rolando B. Bragado and Universal Storefront Services Corporation – MP team leader Joey Estacio led the turnover of assistance to the beneficiaries.
According to Bragado, the qualified 1,258 beneficiaries include rice farmers from the municipalities of Barlig, Bauko, Besao, Bontoc, Sabangan, Sadanga, Sagada, and Tadian who owns a rice field with a maximum land area of two hectares. Meanwhile, the 110 beneficiaries from the eastern municipalities of Paracelis and Natonin received their assistance in Paracelis last May 21, 2024.
Sumalag explained that the financial assistance will be used purposely for the maintenance, improvement, and operation of the registered rice fields of each beneficiary in order to strengthen the production of local rice in the province.
In his message, Governor Lacwasan expressed his gratitude to the DA for allotting an amount of PhP6,890,000 to support the hardworking rice farmers in the 10 municipalities of MP.
He also commended all the beneficiaries for executing their part in registering their rice fields to the DA. He said that the financial assistance they received is the fruit of their efforts and compliance.
As the Chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Board member (BM) Gomez expressed assurance that the Provincial Government is always exerting its effort to find ways to support and strengthen the agricultural sector of the province.
“We, the officials of MP headed by the Provincial Governor, kanayun ay waday kami ay umasidegan yo ay dumawatan si tulong. Nu maipanggep sinan agrikultura, we are always doing our best ay men iyanap si ingawisan because your efforts in the farming community have helped the province big time,” Gomez said.
Furthermore, BM Bastian relayed his encouragement to the farmers, telling them to continue doing their work in farming with hard work and diligence. By HENT