Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez leads the opening of Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) Saturday morning at Botolan People’s Plaza, in Botolan, Zambales. Also present at the launch are Botolan Mayor Jun Omar Ebdane, Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Zambalez 2nd District Rep. Doris Maniquiz, other House Members and high-ranking officials of national government agencies. Photos by Ver Noveno
3K Zambales rice farmers receive cash aid from FARM program
A TOTAL of 3,000 farmers in Zambales received financial assistance on Saturday under a new program aptly named Farmers Assistance for Recovery and Modernization (FARM) that aims to help struggling rice farmers and at the same time aid in increasing the buffer stock of rice of the Marcos government.
The FARM program is another initiative of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and the House of Representatives in collaboration with the National Food Authority (NFA), Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as part of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr.’s commitment to help the agricultural sector.
“Bahagi pa rin ito ng direktiba ng ating Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na tulungan ang ating mga rice farmers na nagkukulang sa panggastos sa pamilya at sa kanilang sinasaka. This also helps the Marcos administration’s efforts to enhance our food security,” Speaker Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus-strong House of Representatives, said.
“We will give our farmers cash aid for now, and we will encourage them to sell at least 100 kilos of their produce of rice to the NFA to boost our buffer stock. This way, natutulungan na natin ang mga kababayan nating magsasaka at nakakatulong naman sila sa food security ng ating bansa,” he added.
The program, which coincides with the opening of the two-day Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair in Zambales Saturday, aims to support the NFA’s mission to increase its buffer stock, which can be used in case of emergencies, and also to assist struggling rice farmers by legislative districts of the House of Representatives.
Under the FARM program, the DA identifies local farmers selected by the DA.
For the Zambales distribution, a total of 3,000 farmers will receive P2,000 each under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program of the DSWD.
In turn, the farmers are encouraged to sell at least 100 kilos of rice to the NFA.
The beneficiaries will be from the congressional district of Zambales Rep. Doris “Nanay Bing” E. Maniquiz.
The program was designed for the said dual purposes, addressing a dilemma by the NFA to accomplish their mandate to ensure that there is sufficient rice stockpile.
The current buying price of NFA is at P23 per kilo, discouraging farmers from selling to the agency and instead sell their rice to private sectors that offer much more competitive prices.
“Following the approach used in our CARD and the ISIP for Youth programs, we will visit every legislative district of the House of Representatives, in line with President Marcos’ directive, to ensure equitable distribution of government aid throughout the countryside,” Speaker Romualdez said.
