Valencia farmers get PhP4.15-M fuel assistance as DA-10 boosts farm mechanization support

VALENCIA CITY, BUKIDNON — The Department of Agriculture – Regional Field Office 10 (DA-10) released PhP4.152-million worth of fuel subsidy to 1,384 Valencia City farmers during the Fuel Assistance to Farmers Project (FAtFP) Caravan on September 9-10 in Brgy. Pinatilan.

Through the FAtFP, the DA supports farmers’ full mechanization on their farms, while alleviating the burden of rising fuel costs. Each farmer-beneficiary received the DA’s Intervention Monitoring Cards (IMC), with PhP3k worth of fuel subsidy credit.

To qualify for the fuel assistance, farmers must be registered owner or renter of operational machinery registered in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Management Information System (ABEMIS). They also must be registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and/or in the Farmers and Fisherfolk Registry System (FFRS).

To be eligible of the agency’s mechanization assistance, the DA-10 through its Regional Agricultural Engineering Division (RAED), urged farmers to register their farm machinery and equipment to the Registration of Ownership of Agricultural and Fisheries Machine and Equipment System (RAFMES).

“I encourage our farmers to register their farm machinery and equipment so that the government can keep a proper inventory of how many machines a farmer or association owns, as well as the production area they cover. This will help us provide the appropriate machinery to qualified farmers,” said Engr. Romil G. Española, RAED OIC-chief.

He also emphasized the proper utilization of the subsidy, reminding beneficiaries that the assistance may be availed 24 hours after the issuance of their IMCs at gasoline stations equipped with a Point of Sale (POS) system.

Jocelyn A. Casino, a corn farmer from Brgy. Concepcion, said the subsidy would help ease their fuel expenses in farming.

“Naa mi maisan nga duha ka ektarya. Kada harvest, magrenta mi sa sheller nga tag-40 centavos ang bayad kada kilo ug ilaha na ang gasolina. Busa, isip usa sa mga mag-uuma nga garenta lamang sa makinarya, dako kaayu ni og tabang sa amoa kay pinaagi niining fuel subsidy, mas makabarato mi sa pagrenta kay amoa naman ang gasolina,” Casino said in an interview.

(We have a two-hectare cornfield. Every harvest, we rent a sheller at 40 centavos per kilo, and we are the ones who shoulder the fuel costs. That’s why this fuel subsidy is a big help for us machinery-renters, because with the fuel covered, we can save more on rental fee.)

The DA-10, in coordination with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and its FinTech partner Universal Storefront Services, Corp. (USSC), is set to distribute another PhP40.122M fuel subsidy, funded under the 2024 budget, to 13,374 farmers regionwide.

This initiative forms part of the current administration’s “Bagong Pilipinas” campaign with the DA at the forefront to boost agricultural productivity through mechanized farming system.# (BJCE)