BALANGA CITY — Farmers in Balanga received various assistance from Department of Agriculture (DA) and the city government that will help them cope up with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
About 403 farmers each received PhP5,000 financial assistance under the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance Program of DA.
“It will serve as an aid to farmers to continue planting despite the crisis they are facing today due to COVID-19,” Mayor Francis Anthony Garcia said.
Qualified beneficiaries, who were provided with the cash subsidy thru Land Bank of the Philippines, are small rice farmers who plant in one hectare or less of land.
He revealed that the city government is continuously coordinating with DA to provide the needs of the agricultural sector amid the extended Enhanced Community Quarantine.
In view of this, they have started today the distribution of 1,644 bags of certified seeds to beneficiaries as part of DA’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Each bag weighs 20 kilos and is worth PhP680.
“Each farmer will receive up to four bags per hectare of their land, and a maximum of three hectares of land per beneficiary is allowed,” the local chief executive stressed.
Garcia assured another wave of 1,644 bags will be delivered to the city once they completed the distribution of the first wave.
Prior to this, Garcia launched the “Gulay sa Likod-Bahay” project to encourage backyard gardening by giving away free vegetable seedlings.
More than 10,000 cabbage, mustard, legumes, bitter melon, and other vegetable seedlings were distributed to residents in all 25 barangays in the city.
“The city government urges everyone to utilize vacant spaces in their backyards for vegetable gardening. This initiative will surely help everyone to have available food within their reach any time,” Garcia explained. (