(UNSPLASH / MANILA BULLETIN)
“They were already poor, if not the poorest among the poor, even before the pandemic had afflicted the country,” Padilla said during the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award and the awarding of the P9.3-million package of support services at Hotel Consuelo, Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija.
The package included P1.81-million in financial assistance to two farmers’ organizations, two light tractors worth P1.99 million, and 75 hauling motorbikes worth P5.51 million.
“Before the pandemic, poverty incidence in the farming sector was pegged at 34.4 percent, the highest in our society,” Padilla said.
“After the pandemic or because of the pandemic, I wonder how much the poverty incidence in the farming sector will be?” she asked. She noted that the 13 million farmers around the country could comprise 70 percent of the “poorest of the poor” in the rural areas.