A total of P2.249 billion has been distributed as of January 2020 to assist rice farmers under the Expanded Survival and Recovery Assistance Program (SURE-Aid Program), according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The SURE-Aid program, which started in September 2019, aims to assist rice farmers affected by the sudden decline in the farm gate price of palay by providing a one-time loan of P15,000 to marginal rice farmers with one hectare and below at zero interest rate, payable in eight years.
William Dar, DA secretary, said the amount is equivalent to 90 percent of the P2.5-billion total credit fund provided by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council to assist rice farmers.
Dar said about 149,910 rice farmers out of the 166,665 targeted potential borrowers received the P15,000 cash assistance thru Land Bank of the Philippines’ distributed cash cards, while a total of P45.06 million in cash assistance was given to 3,004 rice farmers or 100 percent of the total identified borrowers in Maguindanao.
The remaining P251 million is expected to be released once the processing of additional loan applications from Cagayan, Isabela (Santiago City), Quirino, Nueva Viscaya, Sorsogon, Albay and Eastern Samar is completed.
Dar said there are still 16,755 applications on-process of which 1,645 is for validation, 4,125 for certification of regional executive directors and 10,985 loan applications with respective Landbank Lending Centers for processing and/or releasing.
