ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD), has started the distribution of cash and food subsidy to help alleviate the plight of the marginalized farmers and fisherfolk in Isabela City, Basilan, amid the health pandemic.
Marisa Mohammad, AMAD chief, told the Philippine News Agency Wednesday that the DA has allotted PHP5.9 million for the program in Isabela City.
She said there are 1,187 identified recipients of the program and each received PHP5,000 worth of cash and food subsidy.
She said the cash and food aid has a total value of PHP5,000, of which PHP3,000 is given in cash, while the remaining PHP2,000 is for rice, (PHP1,000); chicken (PHP600); and eggs (PHP400).
Mohammad said the distribution of the cash and food aid, which started Tuesday until Friday, is held at the covered court of Basilan National High School, following standard health protocols.
However, she said the PHP3,000 cash aid is being released to the recipients through a designated money courier firm.
She also said all of the 1,187 identified beneficiaries are fisherfolk although the program is for marginalized farmers and fishermen.
The beneficiaries, she said, were identified by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of Agriculture-Isabela City office.
She said the program also provides farmers, who are into rice and poultry production, the avenue for marketing their produce.
“This cash and food aid program is the Department of Agriculture’s intervention amid the health pandemic,” Mohammad added. (PNA)
