Also green-lights use of P700 million in excess tariff collections for the Palayamanan Plus program
(Eagle News)–President Bongbong Marcos has approved P12.7 billion in financial assistance and the use of P700 million in excess tariff collections for the Palayamanan Plus to benefit the country’s farmers.
In a Presidential Communications Office statement, the President said the financial assistance under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance Program will help them “cope with the increasing cost of production and sustain their productivity even in the face of challenges like the coming El Niño [phenomenon].”
Under the program, each of the 2.3 million small rice farmer-beneficiaries registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture as of June 30 will receive P5000.
Among those beneficiaries are farm cooperatives associations, irrigators associations, agrarian reform beneficiary organizations, small water impounding systems associations and other farm groups.
The PCO said the assistance was sourced through the excess tariff collection from rice importation in 2002, pegged at P12.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the P700 million in excess tariff collections for the “Palayamanan Plus” conditional cash transfer aims to ensure RSBSA-registered farmers, who are also listed in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, “will enjoy food, nutrition, and income security,” the President said.
Around 78,000 beneficiaries are expected to receive the Palayamanan Plus conditional cash transfer under the Household Crop Diversification Program.
According to the PCO, each beneficiary will receive P10,000.
The two financial assistance packages support the Masagana Rice Industry Development Programs, the PCO said.
