ILOILO City – Rice farmers from Panay Island will benefit from the second phase of the Emergency Rice Support Project (ERSP) of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
Department of Agriculture (DA) 6 Regional Executive Director Remelyn Recoter, in a social media post, said that KOICA Philippines Program Manager Eugene Baclig said that their country director Song Minhyeon is happy that ERSP has benefitted the rice farmers of Panay Island.
“Especially the rice farmer-members of the KOICA funded projects such as the Bayanihan Tipon Centers (BTCs) and the KOICA Rice Processing Complex,” she said, adding that Baclig, and Sheena Balinsoy, also of KOICA, mentioned about the second phase of KOICA’s ERSP worth $200,000 or about P10 million.
Recoter said that according to KOICA Philippines, the second phase will be implemented in partnership with the municipality of San Miguel, Iloilo, which is the managing partner of the Local Food Terminal under the Panay Island Upland Sustainable Rural Development Project.
Meanwhile, the first phase of the rice support project worth P5 million of 200 metric tons or 4,000 bags of rice will be turned over to the national government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development at the DSWD National Resource Operation Center in Pasay City.
The project was in support of the relief efforts of the national government against the coronavirus disease 2019.(PIA6 Iloilo/PN)
