IN PHOTOS | Rice farmers from the municipalities of Sierra Bullones, Sagbayan and Candijay, Bohol who are first timer recipients of the Department of Agriculture’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancent Fund – Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (DA RCEF-RFFA) attended the Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall (BPTH) Meeting prior to the RFFA roll-out/distribution, held at the municipal hall of Sierra Bullones.

Out of the 1,250 expected new claimants, some 500 farmers were able to listen to the various programs of the goverment agencies that provide services related to rice, in synchronous with the roll-out.

Topics discussed include the DA’s 4-year plan, Masagana Rice Industry Development Program (MRIDP), RFFA, and the Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA) presented by DA7, crops insurance by the Philippine Crops Insurance Corporation (PCIC), RCEF credit assistance for rice farmers by the Development Bank of the Philippines and RCEF-Seeds assistance by the PhilRice.

During the roll-out, these farmers underwent verification of their information details based on the RSBSA encoded data and filtered under Farmers and Fisherfolk Registry System (FFRS).

Qualified rice farmers received their cash assistance of P 5,000.00 and have their picture capture for the printing of the Interventio Monitoring Card (IMC) which will be automatically released to them by the USSC, the financial technology partner of DA. Farmers have to provide their celphone numbers for them to receive notification from the USSC.