Agriculture Secretary William Dar visited Bohol on Feb. 7, 2022, his third visit to the Province in the last two years.

As this developed, Dar has promised P2 billion in assistance for Bohol’s agriculture sector this year.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary together with Gov. Arthur Yap led the roll-out of the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) at the Bohol Island State University (BISU) Covered Court, Main Campus in Tagbilaran City.

The RFFA is part of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) which is a provision under Rice Tariffication Law that was co-authored and sponsored by Yap when he was still the Congressman of the Third District of Bohol.

During the event, Dar announced the DA’s continuing support for Bohol’s agricultural programs as he praised the agricultural programs of the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) under Yap.

Dar said, “With the strong leadership of our good Gov. Art Yap ay alam ninyo noong pagbisita ko dati, middle of last year ay nagandahan po kami doon sa interest ng lalawigan ng Bohol na e-anchor yung Provincial Agriculture Program doon sa ONE DA REFORM AGENDA. Ito ay operations framework natin dito sa pagpapatupad ng programa at proyekto all over the country. Meron po degrees of interest bawat governor ng iba’t-ibang lalawigan, pero itong si Gov. Art Yap, alam niya ang kahalagahan ng partneship ng national government and with his province.”

Yap, who is a former Agriculture Secretary during the Arroyo Administration, said that Dar’s visit is most timely considering Bohol was badly hit by Typhoon Odette.

Yap added, “Presently, agriculture damages stand at P3.7 billion in terms of impacts to crops, fisheries and livestock. Specifically, in terms of crops, about 730,000 mango trees, which we have nurtured for the past 30 to 40 years have been destroyed. 3.3 million fruit-bearing banana trees were also destroyed.”

“Destroyed and damaged coconut trees stand at 2.87 million, out of our 6 million trees were either felled or are now crownless. We intend to use this opportunity to replant with high-value aromatic and macapuno trees so we can diversify our products to include coco-sugar, macapuno, coco nectar, coco wine, vinegar and other products in preparation for the tourism influx in the next two years to come”, the governor noted.

Yap reported, “Our fisheries sector was also highly damaged with close to one thousand fish cages, about one thousand hectares of fishponds, and about 100 fishpens in the municipalities of Calape, Tubigon, Getafe, Buenavista, Bien Unido, Ubay and Talibon were also destroyed, resulting in scarce fish supplies and driving up prices.”

Moreover, Dar announced that Bohol being one of the chosen provinces to lead in the Province-Led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System (PAFES) Program nationwide, it is important that the DA is able to help Bohol get quickly back on its feet again to properly implement agriculture productivity programs.

DAR said, “PAFES yung tawag natin na modelo. Dahil accommodating and interesting na yung format na ginamit ni Gob. Art ay gusto naming gawing modelo sa ibang probinsya.”

The secretary has promised to initially download at least P1 billion in assistance within this current quarter.

Included in the support package is the distribution of P5,000 cash assistance for more than 52,000 Boholano farmers with a total amount of P267 million.

By April 2022, another P267 million from the RCEF 2022 budget will be released to the registered Bohol farmers.

Another P266 million will be given to Bohol out of the DA Regional Office’s Budget.

The DA, in partnership with BISU, will start a program involving the repair of tissue culture facilities for banana trees,

Furthermore, the DA will commit the amount of P15 million from the Bureau of Agricultural Research.

The DA will recommend to the National Diaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM), the release of P150 million for commodity and facilities upgrading and assistance for the coconut industry and fisheries sector.

The DA has also requested Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), through its Quick Response Fund (QRF), to release additional P120 million for assistance to farmers and fisherfolks in Bohol.

Another P50 million will also be allocated to Bohol for the rehabilitation of the fisheries sector.

Dar also said that the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) will be tasked to give agriculture interventions in coconut tree replanting considering that more than 2 million coconut trees were either destroyed or severely affected by typhoon Odette. He will allow the cutting and transportation of toppled trees. Dar said he will not allow the lumber from toppled coconut trees to be exported out of Bohol. This way, the coco lumber from toppled trees can be used to fulfill local demand.

Aside from this, Dar has also announced that the DA will be allocating fuel subsidies to corn and rice farmers. The budget for the fuel subsidies is pegged at P500 million and will be taken from the funds of the DA.

Sec. Dar said, “Sumatotal, P2 billion will be given for the province of Bohol this year. Ganun namin kamahal ang inyong Gobernador Art Yap.”

Most importantly for Bohol, Yap was able to secure the support of Dar for the approval of the Bohol Food Terminal Project.

Through this project, the province will embark on building food processing and packaging centers in Talibon (for fisheries and seaweeds), Ubay/ San Miguel (for livestock and poultry), Carmen (for fruits, cacao, coffee and high-value crops) and Balilihan (for integrated coconut products).

“If only we had the storage and processing capability in the province, then typhoon Odette would not be able to threaten food security because raw commodities can be packed and processed lessening wastage and increasing the shelf life of food products,” Yap said.

Yap added, “We have started our efforts in processing and marketing. For our rice farmers, our buy-back and increased yield program, allowed us to venture into rice milling and today, we are producing our very own Bohol farmers’ rice branded as Bugas ni Dagohoy. With support coming from the DA for corn tractors and corn seeds, we are confident that very soon, we will be selling Sinabakungan ni Dagohoy.”

The DA has instructed its Regional Office to partner with the Provincial Government to ensure faster implementation of projects to help the farmers and fisherfolks of Bohol.

The DBP has also committed to partner with the Provincial Government and the DA to provide financial support to ensure the sustainability of project financing for the farmers groups especially in the rice program project areas and upcoming Bohol Food Terminal operations in four locations around Bohol.

“The one billion [pesos] assistance for this First Quarter is merely an initial amount of assistance. Depending on how fast the Province and its stakeholders can absorb funds, there is every possibility that the fund assistance can even be doubled by the third to the fourth quarter from round 2 of the QRF and NDRRM funds. The key is in using the funds quickly for what they are intended for,”

Dar emphasized.

Yap responded, “We intend to prove Secretary Dar and the DA that they are correct in supporting Bohol, as we have every intent in helping farmers produce more and earning more through processed goods. We must now work on revamping agriculture in Bohol so we can be a regional exporter of food products especially processed pork cuts and high-value.