P256M Agricultural Assistance For Yolanda WV Affected Farmers

P256M Agricultural Assistance For 

Yolanda WV Affected Farmers

The Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) provided P256,309,851.00 worth of agricultural support to 94, 882 farmers in Region 6 who were affected by the super typhoon on November 8, 2013, reported Carmelita C. Fantilanan, Field Operations Division chief.

The said amount is part of the Department of Budget and Management Supplemental Budget released in March 2014.

As of December 17,2014, the sum of P102,338,717.00 was disbursed for the procurement and distribution of certified palay seeds, corn seeds, urea fertilizers, farm tools and tractors and for the implementation of the Cash for Work program led by DA and other line agencies.

The DA also distributed 50 percent of the 37,496 bags of certified palay seeds amounting to P25, 497, 280.00. The remaining 50 percent of the total allocation will be given to the farmers in 2015 for the wet season planting. Meanwhile, 53, 856 bags of urea fertilizer worth P45,993,024.00 were also provided.

The DA’s Corn Program has fully delivered 2,244 bags of corn seeds worth P7,040,800.00 to corn farmers of Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.

The 5,376 sets of farm tools worth P2,303,616.00 were also delivered. However, the 25 units of farm tractors costing P55,000,000.00 are yet to be turned over to farmers associations of Aklan (3 units), Antique (3 units), Capiz (8 units), Iloilo (7 units) and Negros Occidental (4 units). DA Secretary Proceso J. Alcala will lead the turn-over of the said tractors on January 30, 2015 during the Regional Farmers’ Forum to be held at the Western Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center.

Part of the RAY is the Cash for Work program implemented by DA- High Value Crops Development Program for the clearing operations of vegetable areas, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) for the banana intercropping, coconut replanting and fertilization, Philippine- Fiber Industry Development Authority for abaca replanting and the National Irrigation Administration for the desilting operations. The total released budget for the Cash for Work program is P52, 727, 058.00 which aims to help 14, 658 farmers. All the cash for work programs are already conducted except for the PCA’s coconut replanting which will undergo negotiated bidding in January 2015 and the coconut fertilization which is set to be implemented on the second quarter of 2015. /MP