NAVAL, Biliran (PIA) – Biliran, a fifth-class town in Biliran province, will be selling P20 per kilo of locally produced rice to its identified indigent constituents starting this month of October.
Limuel D. Antonio, municipal agriculturist, said the selling of locally produced rice at P20 per kilo to identified indigent constituents aligns with the PBBM administration's goal of making rice available at the same price.
At present, Biliran town has been selling P45 per kilo of the local farmers’ produced rice at the town’s Kadiwa Center in adherence to EO 39. Moreover, during the first Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) in Biliran Province on August 26-27, 2023, the town offered rice at P20 per kilo.
Biliran town sells rice at P20/kilo during the first Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair in the country held at BiPSU Main Campus, Naval, Biliran on August 26-27, 2023. (MLT/PIA Biliran)
Antonio revealed that the initiative, set to be launched on October 22, is part of the Complementary Food Security Program called MYRA CARES. This program, named after Biliran Mayor Myra Cabrales and stands for Comprehensive Assistance to Revitalized Economic Sectors, aligns with the local government's innovative approach to help deliver services to the community.
Further, a memorandum of agreement will be signed between the LGU and the rice farmers. This agreement will outline conditions such as the provision of one sack of fertilizer for free, which will be compensated with one sack of rice weighing 50 kilos, to be sold at P20 per kilo to the designated indigent constituents of the town.
“The LGU has already started the process of identification and verification of indigent beneficiaries of the program,” Antonio said.
The LGU identification and verification team is composed of personnel from the offices of health, social welfare and development, agriculture, and even the police, to ensure transparency in the process.
Mayor Myra Cabrales (5th from left) of Biliran, Biiran, led the distribution of one sack fertilizer subsidy to rice farmers of the town for the Complementary Food Security Program dubbed MYRA CARES. (Photo courtesy of Limuel Antonio, Biliran municipal agriculturist)
He assured the sustainability of the initiative with the estimated palay harvest of the town at 5.6 million kilos a year, at an estimated 2.2 million kilos consumption, based on the 124 kilos per capita consumption of each resident.
Biliran town’s population now stands at 17,662 individuals.
The complementary food security program is not only for rice but also for other agricultural produce, such as marine products like fish, among others. (MMP/RSV/PIA Biliran)
