If a farmer wants to avail of additional machinery, the farmer needs to be a member of a registered cooperative and association.

The Department of Agriculture-Central Luzon (DA3) on Friday said that the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) will benefit 35,000 farmers in this province.

According to DA3’s Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Center Director Veronica Concepcion Esguerra during an agriculture extension worker’s summit, the RCEF is ready for the distribution of farm machinery and crops, distribution of inbred seeds, broader credit, and agricultural extensions.

The summit was jointly organized by DA3 and the Provincial Agriculture Office. Esguerra took the time to explain to the farmers and other stakeholders how the RCEF would benefit them.

She said that if a farmer wants to avail of additional machinery, the farmer needs to be a member of a registered cooperative and association.

The DA has allocated P5 billion from the RCEF for the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) to carry out the machinery program.

The inbred seeds will be distributed free by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) starting mid-2020. Esguerra said that P500 million has been allocated to the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines from the RCEF.

“This is to cover up to 90 percent of the total cost of planting the palay,” Esguerra said.

Meanwhile, the agricultural extension part of the RCEF will focus on the various training and empowerment for farmers, she said.

Of the P1 billion allocated from the RCEF for agricultural extension, she said that P700 million is for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, PhilMech, PhilRice and ATI.

“ATI has P100 million (for) training courses,” she added.