Farmers and fishers in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) have been encouraged to sign up with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) to facilitate access to any agriculture-related assistance program of the government.
The local Department of Agriculture (DA) office in the region issued the call in a bid to meet its registration target of 290,182 until next year.
Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Division (PMED) Chief Susan D. Balanza said that at present, there are already a total of 120,926 registrants in the region.
Balanza says registering in the RSBSA is the minimum requirement in availing of agriculture and fishery-related government services such as financial assistance, subsidiary funding, and insurance services.
The RSBSA is an electronic compilation of basic information of farmers, farm workers, fishers, and other target agriculture-related beneficiaries of the DA. Their data are encoded in the farmers and fishery registry system managed by the DA-Central Office.
According to Balanza, those registered in the electronic database of government agencies are given priority in the targeting and implementation of their respective programs.
She added that the RSBSA registration is a one-time thing. It is a continuing activity that seeks to enlist all qualified Filipinos in the system.
The General Appropriations Act (GAA) emphasizes that the DA's national programs will prioritize areas where the majority of the RSBSA-registered small farmers and fisherfolks are located.
To be able to register in the RSBSA, the individual must be at least 18 years old at the time of registration and a bona fide Filipino citizen who is a member of the agri-basic sector.