The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would launch before the end of the first quarter a database that would make it easier for the government to deliver assistance and other interventions to legitimate farmers and fishermen.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA has developed the National Farmers and Fishermen’s Database (NFFD), where all information about Filipino farmers and fishermen, including the geo-tagged location of their farms and homes, are stored.
The NFFD would indicate interventions received by farmers and fishermen from the government, such as loans, seeds, boats and farm inputs.
Through the database, the government hopes to track the impact of these interventions on the lives of farmers and fishermen. The NFFD, Piñol said, would include their family’s economic profile, particularly poverty incidence, before and two years after they received the interventions.
“This program is expected to effectively assist the Department of Agriculture in targeting the real beneficiaries of its programs, especially the Easy Access Credit Program under the Agricultural Credit Policy Council,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“It will also weed out ‘fake farmers’ who usually take advantage of government’s assistance to farmers by presenting themselves as beneficiaries,” he added.
Piñol said the NFFD will help the National Food Authority (NFA) ensure that the palay sold to the agency came from farmers. He noted that some unscrupulous traders consolidate their purchases and sell these to the government to take advantage of the NFA’s incentives.
The NFA Council approved in October 2018 the implementation of the additional procurement incentive of P3 per kilogram (kg) to enable the food agency to buy more palay from local farmers during the main harvest season.
Called buffer stocking incentive (BSI), the P3/kg was added to the NFA’s palay support price of P17.00/kg, bringing the total NFA buying price to P20.00/kg plus the existing P0.70/kg incentives for delivery, drying and cooperative fees.
“The program will accurately record all transactions made by the farmer with the NFA and what incentives he will receive, including the recording of his loans under ‘Cash Advance’ Credit Program and the payments he has made,” he said.
Piñol said all the information in the NFFD will be accessible only to President Duterte, to him and to officials of government agencies implementing agricultural interventions.