Vice presidential aspirant Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday vowed to push for the creation of a database of farmers and other cottage industry players in the Philippines for the proper identification and distribution of government assistance.

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Sotto said it is imperative for the state to identify the legitimate farmers from people who claim to be farm workers and falsely avail of government aid that is supposed to be dedicated for the agriculture sector.

According to Sotto, a data-driven way of monitoring the agricultural sector is one way to efficiently distribute government assistance or loans to legitimate farmers.

“Once we identify true farmers then we can be sure that corruption or palakasan will not happen. Mahalagang siguruhin natin na totoong magsasaka lamang ang nakikinabang sa tulong ng pamahalaan at hindi ang mga tusong mangangalakal (It’s very important that legitimate farmers are the ones that will benefit from government assistance, and not those unscrupulous traders),” Sotto said at the sidelines of a campaign sortie in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija.

He also said the database will, likewise, serve as a monitoring tool to check possible shortages or surpluses in the sector, effectively stopping deceitful traders from taking advantage of farmers by pushing them to sell at a loss.

And to ensure that farmers earn from their hard work, the Senate leader said the government should buy 50 percent of their produce.

“Sa lahat ng pagkakataon, mahalagang nandiyan ang pamahalaan para tulungan ang ating mga magsasaka (At all times, the government should be prepared to help our farmers),” Sotto said.

“Magkahawak kamay ang pamahalaan at ang ating mga magsasaka sa paniniguro ng food security para sa lahat (The government and the farmers should be working together to ensure food security for all,” he stressed.