The agriculture sector of Cebu, considered the ‘Queen City of the South’, will get an allocation of P454 million out of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) budget for next year.

This is to support the initiatives done to boost the agricultural output in the province, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

Right now, DA is poised to get P86 billion for next year, at least based on the budget allocation approved by the senate.

While this is way smaller than the DA’s original budget request of P280 billion for 2021, this is still higher compared to the agency’s actual 2020 budget of P64.7 billion.

Dar made the recent announcement during the recent launching of Cash and Food Subsidy for Marginal Farmers and Fisherfolk (CFSMFF) program in Pinamungajan, Cebu.

With a budget of P4.5 billion under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or “Bayanihan 2,” almost 900,000 marginal farmers and fisherfolk in the country will benefit from the DA’s cash and food assistance.

Under such program, eligible beneficiaries who are enrolled in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) will receive direct food (P2,000 worth of rice and chicken or egg) and cash (P3,000) aid for a total amount of P5,000 each.

“Among those who will receive this assistance include our sugarcane farmers, coconut farmers, our fishers, and other marginal farmers,” Dar said.

Using the e-voucher system developed by the DA’s Information and Communications Technology Service, the beneficiaries can claim the cash assistance at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP)-accredited payout centers by presenting their government-issued ID and the unique reference code sent by the implementing agencies.

The food assistance, on the other hand, can be claimed at any Kadiwa supplier and cooperatives recognized by the DA.

To further support the farm sector, Dar also announced that the Department will give out starting early next year the so-called “excess tariff” through a cash aid to rice farmers tilling land measuring one hectare and below.

The DA earlier said that the Senate already approved the excess tariff in 2019 and 2020 that reached almost PHP5 billion, which will be given to rice farmers.

According to the DA, the cash assistance for each farmer would be P5,000.