By By Liezle Basa Inigo
LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN – The municipality of Lingayen has started distributing ‘fertilizer subsidy’ as aid to farmers who have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Rice Resiliency Project, farmers in the countryside are given inbreed seeds and hybrid seeds for free.
“We are thankful to the DA for considering Lingayen as one of the recipient of this program,” said Mayor Leopoldo N. Bataoil who spearheaded the ditribution on May 25.
Meanwhile, Municipal Agriculturist Dr. Rodolfo Dela Cruz disclosed that under the Expanded Inbred Rice Production every farmer will get free palay seeds and two sacks of urea fertilizer for every hectare.
“Ang gawin lamang po ng ating mga magsasaka ay bumili ng dalawang sako ng abuno para makakuha sila ng dalawang sako ng libreng abono (All our farmers have to do is buy two sacks of fertiliser to avail of two more sacks for free) under the ‘Buy Two Fertilizers, Take Two Fertilizers’ project,” Dela Cruz said.
In the Expanded Hybrid Rice Production, a bag of hybrid seed and three sacks of fertilizer can also be availed by the farmers in every hectare as long as they purchase two sacks of fertilizer to get three sacks of fertilizer for free under the ‘Buy Two Fertilizers, Take Three Fertilizers’.
“For our farmers and the landlords and farm laborers to avail of this program, it is important that they are registered in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA),” Dela Cruz explained.
He added that they will also submit the original official receipt, original sales invoice, or the original certification from financer or lending entity if loaned.
Dela Cruz invites every farmer to coordinate with his office if they are interested to avail of the program.
Furthermore, Bataoil disclosed that at least 80 farmers already received their P5,000 cash assistance from the Rice Financial Program of DA.
For more information, visit the Department of Agriculture.
