SMALL RICE farmers in the CALABARZON region have received P5,000 each under the Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) program, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

DA Region IV-A Regional Director Arnel V. de Mesa said as of April 8, a total of 15,353 farmers from Batangas and Quezon Province received their FSRF assistance.

“Farmers who tend a one-hectare farm or less were those who received P5,000 each for their day-to-day farming activities,” Mr. De Mesa said.

The FSRF beneficiaries are farmers in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and whose province was not included in the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) program of the DA.

The DA, the Land Bank of the Philippines local government units (LGUs), will continue to distribute cash assistance to more rice farmers from Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon Province.

Meanwhile, over P34.8 million worth of vegetable seed was procured and delivered to all the five agricultural program coordinating offices in Region IV-A, as part of the DA’s urban agriculture project.

Mr. De Mesa said that the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) in CALABARZON has been tapped to provide information materials for urban farming, including growing and harvesting indigenous vegetables within 30 to 35 days.

The urban farming materials will be included in the vegetable seed packs to be distributed around Region IV-A.

“All city and municipal agriculturists may devise a strategy on how to distribute the vegetable seeds to prioritize farmers with established marketing linkages,” Mr. De Mesa said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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