DA gives 17,000 bags rice seeds

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Rice farmers in the province received more than 17,000 bags of free certified rice seeds through the Department of Agriculture’s Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) assistance program.
Beneficiaries are farmers tilling two hectares or less with an allocation of two bags per hectare, said Jose Casibang of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist.
The RCEF is a component of the farming interventions intended for small farmers affected by the drop in palay prices resulting from the Rice Tariffication Act (RTA) implementation. The DA allocates P10 billion annually from the tariffs generated from the RTA to enhance a farmer’s competitiveness.  
To qualify, beneficiaries must be listed in the registry system for basic sector in agriculture.
The rice seeds distributed in the city came from seed growers of the province and Apayao. – Larry T. Lopez