Helping farmers beat the economic scourge

By Lorenzo Lambatin Jr.

BACOLOD City – The sad and unexpected turn of the recent events in the global and local scene has driven world economies for the worse.

No country was spared from the effects of the pandemic on all fronts. It hurt the richest of the countries and how much more a struggling economy like the Philippines.

Members of the Tampalon Rainfed Upland Farmers’ Cooperative (TRUFA) in Brgy. Tampalon, Negros Occidental know the difficulty well enough and are threshing out ways to beat the compounding economic scourges.

TRUFA chair Remy Ruales is concerned that growing widespread poverty is creeping through the doors of each member of the cooperative with no hope seen on the horizon.

Reeling from their losses brought about by the pandemic, typhoon Odette and the spike in petroleum prices due to war in Ukraine, the 380 families of the organization are feeling the crunch as food gets more difficult to acquire. Their production has sunk low from 60 to 80 sacks per hectare, it is now down to 20 to 30 sacks per hectare.

Fertilizer prices are also on a rampage level hitting P3,500 from the previous of a thousand lower.

When hope was nowhere in sight for many months, came the Integrated Sustainable Assistance Recovery and Advancement Program (ISARAP).

Ruales said their cooperative received P1 million from the government through the Department of Labor and Employment.

He said the grant will enable them to buy fertilizers and basic commodities at wholesale prices. It will then be sold to the members at a reasonable price.

“We are very happy with this grant and we promise that this will serve the purpose for which it was intended–to help the severely affected poor farmers in the province,” he said.

Early last month, the check was turned over to the TROPA during the ISARAP program in Silay City.

He thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the assistance and wished that more aid would come and benefit not only their cooperative but also other organizations. (PIA)