KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato -- About 31,000 rice growers in Soccsksargen Region are set to benefit from the Department of Agriculture's  Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund - Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RCEF-RFFA). Each farmer beneficiary will receive unconditional cash aid of P5,000  annually for at least three years.  

On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar visited Tantangan municipality, this province, to lead the launching of the RCEF-RFFA in Soccsksargen Region. 

During the event, Secretary Dar led the ceremonial awarding of interventions monitoring cards (IMCs) to 1,123 rice farmers of the municipality as initial beneficiaries of the RFFA in the region. The IMC contains P5,000 cash aid; it shall also serve as identification card and cash card of the farmer beneficiaries. 

According to data from DA 12, at least 30,959 farmers in the entire region will be provided with the cash grant which will amount to over P154.79 million in total in FY 2021. 

Secretary Dar said, the RFFA was sourced from the P7.6 billion excess tariffs collected by the Bureau of Customs from importation of rice in 2019 and 2020. 

"Any excess tariff out of this Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) will now be utilized to give financial assistance to rice farmers tilling two hectares and below," he said. "Continuous 'yan for the next three years pa."

RFFA was implemented primarily to compensate for the income loss of the rice farmers due to the drop in palay prices resulting from the enforcement of the RTL. 

The program's implementing rules and regulations states, "the RFFA shall give preferential attention to smallholder rice farmers whose farm sizes  range from 0.5 but not exceeding 2 hectares. These farmers must be registered in the updated Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture(RSBSA)." 

In a radio interview acting regional executive director Dennis Arpia said, DA 12 aims to finish the distribution of cash grants to the beneficiaries before the end of November. 

Also during the event in Tantangan, Secretary Dar distributed  P77.74 million worth of interventions  for the farmers of South Cotabato. 

These include P57.8 M worth of cheques that the Agriculture Credit Policy Council turned over to its lending conduits and P19.46 M worth of farm machineries,  consisting of 10 four-wheeler tractors, 3 combine rice harvesters, and a walk-behind transplanter from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization. 

DA's Rice Program also handed out  P318,500 worth of transplanter and rice thresher and P162,280 worth of upland rice seeds and vegetable seeds for the Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo (4Ps).  (Photos courtesy of DA XII)