A high-ranking government official in Negros Oriental has lauded the Rice Subsidy Program now being implemented for selected farmers and fisherfolks in the province. 

 

Speaking during the recently-held cash pay-out for said program’s selected beneficiaries in the town of Dauin, Gov. Roel Degamo said the government’s move to directly provide the cash subsidy to the farmers and fisherfolks is a big boost to the agricultural sector in the midst of trying times. 

 

The national government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), earlier implemented the Rice Subsidy Program, a short-term cash-for-training and cash-for-work assistance for small-scale farmers and fisherfolks to see them through the lean season. 

DSWD started implementing said program in Negros Oriental just this month, with Dauin’s beneficiaries the first to receive their cash grant as of this writing. 

 

A total of 18 local government units across the province are slated to benefit from the program. 

 

According to Capitol Information Officer Adrian Sedillo, the governor in his speech stressed to the beneficiaries in Dauin to use the cash subsidy from the national government wisely. 

 

Sedillo, in a statement, qouted the governor as saying: “You must not waste the help you are receiving from the government. Don’t spend it on vices.”

 

He added that Gov. Degamo is fully supporting the program as it also bolsters his efforts to develop the agriculture sector in the province. 

 

Early this year, the governor has allocated funds amounting to P5 million for the purchase of seed inoculant that will reduce the need for fertilizers, thereby cutting down costs for farmers. 

 

Sedillo added that aside from this, the governor poured in P4.6 million as counterpart funds to procure 6 tractors for farmers to use in tilling their lands for free. 

 

The provincial government also allotted P1 million for the purcahse of certified seeds, P.5 million for the breeding of native animals and another P.5 million for the establishment of bagsakan centers for organic products, said Sedillo. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)