Mindanaotoday.com | DA-10 assures aid for flood-affected farmers in MisOr
By: Apipa Bagumbaran
GINGOOG CITY – The Department of Agriculture-10 (DA-10) has assured Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and local officials in the region of immediate aid for flood-affected farmers in Misamis Oriental.
Carlene Collado, DA-10 regional executive director, gave this assurance during the situation briefing on the effects of a shear line and floods in the province of Misamis Oriental presided over by the President, January 11.
“We have already received the damage report from the city agriculturist and the other municipal agriculturist… we have available buffer seeds for rice, corn, and high-value crops, especially vegetable seeds,” he said.
Collado said DA-10 will also provide P5,000 in financial assistance for rice farmers in the province, including Gingoog City.
The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) will fund this, which will be distributed in February.
“Aside from that, we will be distributing the fertilizer discount vouchers for the whole region, that totals around 192 million. And for the RFFA (Rice Farmers Financial Assistance), we have 96 million to be disbursed, and the funds are already deposited in the DBP account. So anytime we will schedule the distribution, not only for the province of Misamis Oriental but for the whole province of Region 10,” he told the President.
Collado also said farmers can borrow up to P25,000 for free through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council’s Survival and Recovery (SURE) Assistance Program.
Based on the report of the Gingoog local government, the recent floods caused damage to agricultural crops estimated at P49.72 million.
Accordingly, the floods destroyed 1,836 hectares of rice, corn, bananas, coffee, cacao, and other high-value crops, affecting 5,151 farmers. (APB | PIA-10 | Misamis Oriental)
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