Nearly three thousand Bohol farmers and fisherfolk now breath recovery after receiving P37.344 million in total damage pay from the government for the crops they lost to the last dry spell.
The final round of indemnity check and cash card distribution from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) was done in Buenavista and Getafe last week.
Prior to it, Gov. Arthur Yap and PCIC representatives turned over P6.806 million worth of damage pays to 424 affected farmers in Pilar and Inabanga.
There are two PCIC Extension Offices (PEOs) in Bohol—one based in Tagbilaran City with Rocky Tidon as team leader, the other in Ubay led by Christian Owen Vallejos.
Total indemnity checks and cash cards released for Bohol amounted to P33.655 million and P3.689 million, respectively, for 2,893 recipients in 41 towns.
They are farmers and fishery workers whose insured cultivations and raisings like rice, corn, high value crops, livestock and seaweeds were damaged during the lingering El Niño until late last year.
Tidon said the farmers were free of their insurance premium.
The government fully subsidized the farmers who availed of the program called Registry System for Basic Sectors (RSBSA).
The RSBSA has been updated by the Department of Agriculture through the municipal agriculture offices.
The PCIC, through its PEOs, and the provincial government coordinated in having the indemnity checks and cash cards delivered to the farmers.
The Yap administration has also been supporting the farmers through its Advanced Rice Technology (ART) Program which provides them hybrid seeds, among others, for higher production.
The governor distributed hybrid and inbred rice seeds as well as high-yielding corn seeds despite the threat of COVID-19.
While keeping eye on the pandemic, Yap has been aggresive in his food security thrust and his program for both waterless farms and communities.
FIVE TOWNS WITH MOST HIT FARMERS
Ubay registered the most number of drought-hit farmers at 581 who received indemnity checks and cash cards all amounting to P9.648 million.
Four other agricultural towns followed followed: Dagohoy, 410 farmers, P5.136 million; Carmen, 325, P2.777 million; Pilar, 283, P4.862 million; and San Miguel, 142, P2.467 million.
There were also checks from Landbank, but for crop damages incurred by farmers who have loans under its Sikat-Saka Program.
ANOTHER SUBSIDIZED CROP INSURANCE
Tidon said there is another 100% government subsidized farm insurance program for those who are not registered in the RSBSA.
Farmers can avail of the non-RSBSA program which is financed out of the Agri-Agra Fund as long as there is allocation. (Ven rebo Arigo)