POLANGUI, Albay Mayor Raymond Adrian Salceda said the Department of Agriculture (DA) committed financial support and assistance under the government’s Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) program of the Rice Tariffication Law to help them recover from the impact of the El Nino dry spell.
Salceda, who heads the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Albay Chapter, said he had coordinated with Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Franklin Tiu-Laurel and was assured of RFFA assistance.
The El Niño phenomenon ravaged and damaged more than 425 hectares of rice lands in Albay, particularly in the towns of Polangui, Libon, Oas, and Pioduran, all in the third district of the province, the mayor said.
Aside from the RFFA financial support, Salceda said he was also promised that the National Irrigation Administration would install surface pumps near water sources to augment the supply in drought-stricken rice farms, referred to as Pump Irrigation from Open Sources or PISOS.
He said coordination was being undertaken by his office with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. to fast-track assistance for the affected farmers. Alarmed by the threat, the LMP-Albay president urged other municipal and city mayors in the province to support one another while waiting for government assistance.
Salceda said they would see to it that Albay farmers would have their share of the certified and hybrid palay seeds and fertilizers to be distributed by the DA in Bicol to help mitigate the effects of the calamity.
DA officials in Bicol announced they would also distribute open pollinated corn flint, glutinous and hybrid corn and GM seeds and fertilizers to corn farmers, lowland vegetable seeds including legumes such as mungbean and flower inducers.