The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region 5 will sell rice at P29 per kilo starting in September 2024 through its KADIWA Centers in the Bicol Region.
Gloria Mujar, 78, of Barangay Caroyroyan, Pili, Camarines Sur, buys rice at P58 per kilo. When her budget permits, she usually buys only one sack.
“Nag-P50, P55, P57, ngunyan P58 na; nagmamahal. [Pero] maski pa iyan magmahal, ta importante, siyempre mahinguha ka," Mujar said.
The NIA’s program will benefit not just senior citizens like Gloria but also persons with disabilities (PWDs) and 4Ps beneficiaries. This move is part of their contract farming program, which provides subsidies to farmers.
The contract farming program offers P50,000 per hectare to farmers:
- P30,000 for farm inputs; and,
- P20,000 for land preparation and other expenses.
This support aims to help farmers achieve an expected yield of five metric tons per hectare.
"Garo tinawan mong kapital si farmer para makapagtanom sinda. After that, sa bawat ektarya, expected si farmer na makapag-yield ning five metric tons per hectare," Ma. Cleofe Baraero, Public Relations Officer for NIA Region V, said.
"Another 50,000 na babakalon kang National Irrigation Administration," Baraero added.
The contract farming program is currently in a pilot phase in the Bicol Region, covering 1,544 hectares.
NIA plans to expand this program to a permanent and regular initiative in the 2024 General Appropriations Act.
