RICE farmers in Central Visayas may receive financial assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office in June.
DA-Central Visayas Officer-in-Charge and Director Joel Elumba said they had allotted P485 million for the rice farmers.
Each farmer will receive a P5,000 cash assistance, which will be given simultaneously as possible, he said.
He added that they are now coordinating with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as their conduit and the Universal Storefront Services Corporation (USSC) that will roll out the distribution.
The distribution will probably commence in June, Elumba added.
Elumba said 93,000 farmer-beneficiaries are entitled to receive the cash assistance in the region.
The province of Bohol has the largest number of beneficiaries with about 71,000 farmers, followed by Negros with 23,000, Cebu with 2,000, and Siquijor with 500.
The farmers must own at least two hectares or below of land and must be registered in the registry system for basic sectors in agriculture to qualify for the cash aid, he added.
He said a product assistance has also been delivered to farmers who were badly affected by Typhoon Odette (Rai), which hit the region, particularly Cebu, last December 2021.
Elumba said the DA has prepared around P292 million for the purchase of farming essentials, or what they call the "quick respond fund for Odette," to help farmers bounce back from the devastation caused by the typhoon.
The assistance is non-cash, composed of seedlings and farming equipment given to all kinds of farmers in the region.
It also includes a repair of the agricultural infrastructure that were greatly devastated by Odette, Elumba added.
Typhoon Odette, which hit several parts of the Visayas and other areas in the country in December 2021, has damaged P17.7 billion worth of agricultural properties, with 10.1 million hectares of crops destroyed, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. (HIC/LYM)