The Department of Agriculture (DA) began on Wednesday the release of PHP236.95 million under the 2023 Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund-Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RCEF-RFFA) to benefit 47,390 farmers in Antique.

Sonie Guanco, DA-Antique Provincial Coordinating Office head, said of the total target recipients, 26,397 belonging to the first batch could each already withdraw the PHP5,000 cash aid.

“The first batch of farmers are those who have already their names on the credited list provided to the Municipal Agriculture Officers,” he said in an interview.

The farmers are those with Intervention Monitoring Card (IMC) similar to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card they could use to withdraw financial assistance from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) or through the Universal Storefront Service (USSC) Western Union.

Meanwhile, the second batch of 20,993 farmers would have to wait to be notified.

“Those who belong to the second batch of farmers are mostly those who have yet no IMC having newly registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA),” Guanco said.

Farmers qualified for the RCEF-RFFA are those registered with the RSBSA, a registry of farmers, fisherfolk, and farm laborers, serving as the basis to identify beneficiaries.

They are landowners or tenants with farmlands of two hectares and below.

In 2022, the financial assistance benefited 33,695 farmers in Antique who received PHP5,000 each. (PNA)