The Department of Agriculture (DA) will allocate ₱ 768 million in 2021 to boost the agricultural sector in Negros Occidental.
Secretary William Dar, who was here recently, said the budget is for farm machineries, productivity enhancement support program, and income generating support program to help farmers reach their utmost potential for food productivity.
Dar said there is an ongoing bicameral session this week, but the province will most likely get such amount based on the proposed budget of the national government to the Congress.
Dar was in Bacolod early this week for the launching and distribution of over ₱ 450 million worth of programs and projects to farmers, fisherfolk and local government units (LGUs) in the province.
Dar and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), as one of the implementing agencies, launched the Cash and Food Subsidy Program for marginalized farmers and fisherfolks, which include sugarcane farmers among the beneficiaries in Western Visayas at the Pana-ad Park here.
About ₱ 170 million is allocated for fisherfolk and sugarcane, corn and coconut farmers in the province registered at the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA) and has not received Special Amelioration Program (SAP) from other government agencies.
An initial of 1,226 eligible sugarcane farmer beneficiaries for Cash and Food assistance which included thirty (30) eligible sugarcane farmers beneficiaries’ from three different barangays in Murcia (Pandanon, Canlandog and Sta. Rosa) participated in the said launching ceremony.
Each farmer-recipient will receive ₱ 3,000 cash and ₱ 2,000 worth of goods including chicken, eggs and rice.
The vouchers for the remaining eligible sugarcane beneficiaries for Visayas shall continue to be distributed this December 2020 and onwards.
Dar stressed the importance of food security to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). “We cannot fight this global pandemic if we do not have enough food supply to nourish our health,” he added.
Also, about ₱ 220 million worth of farm machineries and equipment were also turned over to at least 98 farmers’ cooperatives, associations, and organizations in the province.
DA also distributed other assistance, which included a ₱ 1 million grant to Multi-Sectoral Alliance for Development Cooperative as a Kadiwa exhibitor, ₱ 4.5 million worth of reefer van to Caridad Hog Raisers Association, and a total of about ₱ 2.5 million in Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (Amia) projects to various recipients like Central Philippine State University (CPSU), Municipal Government of Pontevedra and different farmers organizations.
For his part, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson thanked the DA and other government agencies for attending to the needs of the farmers in the province. He assured them that the provincial government will continue to help them.
(Glazyl Masculino via The Daily Guardian (TDG), photo courtesy of TDG)