THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental has distributed P11 million worth of financial support to local farmers who are beneficiaries of the Quick Turn Around/Early Planting Incentives Project of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA).

Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer with Provincial Agriculturist Japhet Masculino led the distribution of checks held at the Provincial Capitol's Social Hall in Bacolod City on Friday, January 8, 2021.

A total of 5,413 farmers from different towns and cities covering about 5,500 hectares are the recipients of the project.

It aims to provide cash incentives to farmers engaged in early planting from April to May as support to rice requirements during the off-cropping season.

Lacson, in a statement, thanked the farmers for their hard work that helps the province to ensure food security.

Lacson emphasized that the agriculture sector was also affected at height of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic last year.

He said the government and farmers need to help each other not only to uplift the latter's lives but also to help the economy to recover.

The priority development agenda of the present administration also focuses on food security and agricultural productivity, the governor stressed.

Also present during the activity were Board Member Andrew Montelibano, who is the chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Food and Agriculture, and fellow board members Manuel Frederick Ko and Jose Benito Alonso. (With reports from Capitol PIO)