LAOAG CITY, (PNA)–The City Agriculture and Fishery Council (CAFC) asked the Laoag city government to bankroll their crop insurance premiums and to provide financial assistance to farmers for the purchase of hybrid seeds.
CAFC’s twin requests was contained in a letter they sent to Mayor Chevylle Farinas which she eventually endorsed to the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
CAFC proposed that the amounts they needed be sourced out from portions of the city’s share from the tobacco excise tax as provided for in Republic Act 7171.
Arlindo Canete, CAFC chairperson, explained that their proposed crop insurance will help farmers whose crops were damaged by recent calamities.
“At present, our fellow farmers with crops damaged by calamities can apply for production loans from banking institutions to allow us to replant but this will give additional burden for us due to high interest rates,” he said.
Thus, the farmers decided instead to apply for crop insurance and they all agreed to request financial help from the city government.
The crop insurance premium would be considered as another subsidy of the city government to the city’s farmers tilling at least 3,149 hectares, they said.
In their other proposal, CAFC asked the city mayor’s assistance for the purchase of hybrid rice and corn seeds to help them recover their losses wrought by the calamities.
Canete said his group proposed seeds subsidy from the city government as farmers are too poor and cannot afford the high prices of the commodity in the market.
Unless the city government helps, farmers cannot buy rice and corn seeds with which to replant to replace their their crops devastated by typhoons, leaving their farmlands idle, CAFC said.
The SP unanimously approved an urgent resolution supporting the proposal.
However, City Budget Officer Carlina Cumigad confirmed that the city’s share from the tobacco excise tax has not yet been released by the national government.