Antique: A member of the provincial board will push for the allocation of PHP15 million as a subsidy for farmers in Antique. ‘I am now crafting an ordinance that would be introduced in the provincial board by our next session, seeking a PHP15 million subsidy to support our farmers,’ board member Fernando Corvera Sr., the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture at the provincial legislative body, said in an interview on Tuesday.

According to Philippines News Agency, the proposed ordinance is titled ‘Authorizing a grant of financial subsidy amounting to PHP15 million to support the Palay Marketing Assistance Program through the National Food Authority (NFA) in the Province of Antique.’ Under the proposal, the subsidy will serve as an add-on to the existing NFA buying price of PHP17 per kilo so farmers will have a higher take-home when they sell their fresh palay produce.

‘Right now, the NFA buying price of fresh palay from the farmers is PHP17 per kilo, but with the provincial government financial subsidy, the NFA could procure the palay a little higher,’ Arnold Balangao, chair of the Provincial Agricultural and Fishery Council (PAFC), which requested such intervention, said in another interview. He said the subsidy may be available to farmers registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) of the Department of Agriculture.

The scheme is implemented in Iloilo province, particularly in the town of Estancia and Passi City, which provides a PHP2 subsidy for each kilo. The strategy is expected to help farmers recover from their farming expenses in addition to increasing their income. Currently, traders offer a buying price of PHP12 per kilo for fresh harvest. Antique, being agriculture-based, has around 75,000 farmers.