The government has aided 7,242 rice farmers in the Caraga region with PHP33 million worth of fertilizer discount vouchers (FDVs) from Nov. 20 to Dec. 12 this year, the regional Department of Agriculture (DA-13) office said Tuesday.

“The fertilizer support is aimed to increase the production of farms planted with hybrid rice from September 2023 to March 2024 dry season,” DA-13 said in a statement.

FDVs helped the fertilization requirements of some 8,266 hectares of farms in the region devoted to hybrid rice.

The DA-13 said the assistance is given to listed farmers in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture, and encoded in the National Farmers and Fisherfolks Information System.

Of the total number of FDV farmer-beneficiaries, 1,342 are from Agusan del Norte, 2,868 from Agusan del Sur, 1,445 from Surigao del Sur, 1,363 from Surigao del Norte and 224 from Dinagat Islands.

“The support is part of the DA’s Masagana Rice Industry Development Program that enables our rice farmers to supplement the fertilizer requirements needed for their production and mitigate the impacts of the projected decline in production due to low fertilizer usage,” the agency said. (PNA)