The South Cotabato government has utilized at least Php2 million out of the allocated Php15 million for the Palay Support Fund program which is set to buy rice farmers’ produce at Php19/kg.
Provincial Agriculturist Raul Teves said rice farmers who want to avail of the program are welcome to visit the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist to know the guidelines on how to avail of the program.
“Patuloy na bumababa ang presyo ng palay dahil sa peak season.” He said,
The program which was implemented in 2019 by Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo aims to stabilize palay prices and help farmers recover from their losses after prices went down to P 12/kg to P 13/kg.
Last year, Governor Tamayo allotted Php10 million for the said program which procured at least 2,600 bags of palay through the Binhi-an ng Timog Kutabato Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BINTIKU-MPC) to more than 100 farmers in the province.
This year the allocation increased to Php15 million to help more farmers beneficiaries.
Teves added out of the targeted harvest of 8-10 metric tons this cropping season, the province only yielded at least 4.15 metric tons from the towns of Norala, Surallah and Sto. Nino only.
OPAG reveals that out of the 13,874 hectares planted with palay only 973 hectares were harvested.
“These are just partial harvest,” Teves said,
To date the province has produced 354 sacks of well-milled rice, 550 sacks milled and 300 kg Binglod.
