Imee urges DA to expedite release of rice farmers’ cash grants

Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday called on the Department of Agriculture (DA) to speed up the disbursement of almost P9 billion in government subsidies for rice farmers who are now preparing for the wet planting season.

Marcos, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Cooperatives, said there were concerns over the seemingly slow distribution of the P5,000 cash aid for some 1.6 million rice farmers, months after the Department of Budget and Management first announced its availability.

“Huwag nang i-time deposit ang pondo para sa mga magsasaka at hindi naman ‘yan para tumubo ng interes sa bangko. Paspasan na ang pag-release niyan, ngayon din,” Marcos said in a statement.

(Don’t put the farmers’ funds in a time deposit account as they’re not meant to earn interest. Speed up the release right now.)

After the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) brought up the alleged delays in the release of the P5,000 subsidies, the Land Bank of the Philippines said it was coordinating with the DA to expedite the distribution of cash grants to farmer beneficiaries under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program.

The LandBank said the non-release of the grants to some farmers in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Western Visayas was primarily due to the DA’s request for the bank to procure Intervention Monitoring Cards, which would be used for the distribution of cash aid.

Due to this, and in case the DA cannot update its Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), Sen. Marcos said the Agriculture Department should tap municipal agriculturists who ought to have a list of farmers’ cooperatives in their areas of responsibility.

Fertilizer, seed subsidies

She also said that the RSBSA’s list of individual farmers given access to fertilizer and seed subsidies should not exclude but continue to support those whose livelihood has grown to process their crops into value-added products.

Marcos warned of low farm yields and even food shortages if farmers were unable to use their subsidies to buy fertilizer and other farm inputs.

“The DA is creating bigger problems for itself if it delays the release of farmer subsidies. Farm yields for the country’s staple crops cannot be maintained, much less increased, if farmers can’t afford fertilizers and quit their livelihood,” she said.

She noted that a farmer tilling one hectare of rice can save 25% to 33% on fertilizer costs with the P5,000 subsidy. — DVM, GMA News