The Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Rice Industry Development Office, said the rollout of the voucher system for the seeds and fertilizers assistance provided to clustered rice farmers in five pilot regions will soon be ready.
Glenn Estrada, head of digitalization under the Masagana Rice Industry Development Program, said in a statement the voucher system will be launched using intervention monitoring cards (IMC) that would double up as identification and cash cards for individual farmers.
Regions where the IMC cards would be distributed include Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa and Bicol.
The DA said clustered farmers can transact and buy their seeds and fertilizers from any supplier of their choice with the IMC cards to pay for their orders either in bulk or individually through USSC, Maya or GCash.
Through the voucher system, farmers are also empowered to choose their suppliers of seeds and fertilizers, compared to the previous practice that seeds and fertilizers end up unused due to delayed or unpreferred stocks.
However, the DA emphasized that clustered farms must all be registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture to access the voucher system and government interventions, including the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance of P5,000 each that is being funded by the Rice Tariffication Law.
Earlier, the DA said the Philippines could post a record palay harvest this year despite the expected effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Leo Sebastian, DA undersecretary for rice industry development, said local palay production this year could “hopefully” reach up to 20 million metric tons (MT) or just slightly below that figure.
In 2021, Philippine local rice production hit a record 19.96 million MT but slightly dropped to 19.76 million MT last year.
The DA said the optimistic projection is driven by the around 300,000 MT yield increase of palay for the first semester of the year compared to the same period in 2022.
Sebastian said the impact of El Niño has yet to be felt, so the DA is preparing for its possible effects as it is seen to amplify temperature for the dry season next year.
