2,700 magsasaka sa Antique na naapektuhan ng El Niño ay nakatanggap ng tulong pinansyal sa pamamagitan ng PAFFF program.

Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao, who led the distribution on Monday, said the assistance came from the Office of the President through the Department of Agriculture and its local counterpart, the Antique Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPA), to help farmers affected by the El Niño phenomenon.

“I had asked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for this assistance for our farmers,” she said in an interview.

The 2,700 farmers were among the 5,000 recipients of PHP10,000 to receive assistance until Nov. 13.

Antique Vice Governor Edgar Denosta said the initial beneficiaries came from the towns of Anini-y, Tobias Fornier, Hamtic, Sibalom, Valderrama, and Barbaza.

“There will also be distribution of assistance in the municipalities of Bugasong for the northern towns on Nov. 12 and in San Remigio on Nov. 13 to complete the 5,000 beneficiaries,” he said.

Farmers from the towns of Pandan, Sebaste, Culasi, Bugasong, Patnongon, Laua-an, and Tibiao will receive the cash assistance in Bugasong, while the distribution the next day in San Remigio will cater to the farmers of the municipality.

He said that the assistance was timely for the needs of the farmers this second cropping season.

Meanwhile, farmer beneficiary Raquel Esteves, 66, from Barangay Maasin, Sibalom, said she intends to buy fertilizer and other farm inputs for their rice farm.

“The cash assistance will help us have some money to buy our farm needs since we were affected by the El Niño phenomenon,” she said.

She said that she and her husband mainly rely on the income from their harvest for subsistence and to buy farm inputs.

Another farm tenant from Tobias Fornier Anacleto Sembran, 65, said he is thankful to President Marcos for the assistance.

“The assistance is a big help for us farmers,” he said. (PNA)