SAN FERNANDO CITY, July 14 (PIA) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Ilocos has released e-vouchers to 102,382 farmers as of July 2, 2021.

According to DA-1, a total of P245 million worth of fertilizers for the 2020-2021 dry cropping season is funded under the Rice Resiliency Project 2 or RRP2 program.

“The total allocation of the department under the program is P252.7 million with a total target area of 106,350 hectares and out of the given e-vouchers, P238.458 million was already claimed by 98,784 farmers from the region,” said DA-1 Regional Executive Director Nestor Domenden.

“Other than fertilizers, we also provided palay seeds to farmer recipients of e-vouchers with 86,258 hybrid and 19,541 certified seeds,” Domenden added.

Moreover, the e-vouchers released amounts to P2,000 and P3,000 worth of fertilizers for every hectare of inbred and hybrid seeds, respectively. 

Through the e-voucher scheme, the farmers can purchase inorganic fertilizers of their choice at any accredited merchants, dealers, and distributors of agricultural supply in their respective provinces.

Farmers who received their e-vouchers are those who are registered under the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture.

DA-1 encouraged those who are not yet registered under the system to enroll through their city or municipal agriculture offices.

The RRP 2 is part of the Plant, Plant, Plant Program which  aims to increase local rice and rice production in the country to combat the threat of food insufficiency especially with the onslaught of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. (JCR/VHS/AHFF/PIA-1 with reports and photo from DA-1)