Farmers, fishers get P67.5-M assistance

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) distributed P67.57 million in cash assistance for farmers and fisherfolk in 10 regions to help them cope with the rising prices of commodities and fuel during the lean months.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said 37,375 small-scale farmers and fishermen from the National Capital Region, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Ilocos Region (Region 1), Central Luzon (Region 3), Bicol Region (Region 5), Central Visayas (Region 7), Eastern Visayas (Region 8), Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), Northern Mindanao (Region 10), and SOCCSKSARGEN (Region 12) received the assistance under the Rice Subsidy for Small-Scale Farmers and Fisherfolk being implemented by the DSWD.

Soliman said the subsidy is a short-term intervention for farmers and fishermen and their families to help them survive the difficult times.

“Under the subsidy, the beneficiaries will receive cash assistance in exchange for training and community services rendered,” she said.

The farmers and fishermen participated in the four-day Cash for Training and seven-day Cash for Work where they were trained on food production, disaster management and planting methods for palay/corn, vegetable and family disaster preparedness and mitigation, Soliman said.

After the training, they rendered community service, such as river dredging and embankment, digging and dredging of canals and drainage, repair of small–scale irrigation, tree planting or reforestation projects, school clean-up through the “Brigada Eskwela 2011,” communal gardening, repair of damaged day care centers (DCCs) and other community facilities.

Soliman said the cash assistance is based on the daily minimum wage in the respective regions, which ranges from P219 to P367.

Half of the cash assistance will go to buying food or rice in the market to boost the economy in the area.

The rice subsidy is also being implemented in Regions II, IV-A, IV-B, XI, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

It has a budget of P4.18 billion for some 1.57 million small farmers and fishers.

The beneficiaries were identified through the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) for this year, which listed poor farmers and fisherfolk per city and municipality. –ELLALYN B. DE VERA, Manila Bulletin