DA-NorMin fine-tunes rice projects rollout in Bukidnon

 

Malaybalay City, Bukidnon – The Department of Agriculture – Region 10 (DA-NorMin) Rice Program convened the local government units (LGUs) of Bukidnon to fine-tune the rollout of pipelined projects and activities under the National Rice Program (NRP) for 2025.

In a consultation-meeting held on Thursday, July 17, guidelines for the selection of farmer-beneficiaries, distribution of agricultural inputs, and mechanism to avail agricultural drone services under the NRP were cascaded to the personnel of the Provincial, City, and Municipal Agriculture Office of Bukidnon province.

To streamline the NRP projects implementation, the DA presented a strategic process flow, a timeline for documentary compliance, and a coordination mechanism between the DA and LGUs.

Similarly, status and concerns for the rollout of the Rice Farmers’ Financial Assistance (RFFA) and Fertilizer Discount Voucher (FDV) were tackled to address potential implementation bottlenecks.

This year, eligible rice farmers will receive up to PhP7k cash assistance under the RFFA. As a matter for compliance, the deadline to claim the 2024 spillover FDV was set on July 31.

The LGU agriculturists were also apprised of the Crop Diversification Program (CDP) of the NRP, under which qualified smallholding rice farmers may avail up to PhP10k worth of farm inputs subsidy for rice seeds and fertilizer.

The DA-Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) and the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) also joined the consultation-meeting to share updates on the implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) agricultural mechanization and seed programs.

The meeting also paved the way for proactive mitigation of concerns relative to farmers’ registration to the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA).# (ATT)