Cash doleouts hurting rural productivity - Piñol

The conditional cash transfer program, or “4Ps,” (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) may be a quick fix for poverty but has an adverse effect on rural productivity, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol said after a visit to farmers in Palawan last week.

Piñol said that during the Biyaheng Bukid Forum in Brooke’s Point, Palawan last Wednesday, rice farmers sought help from the Department of Agriculture rice transplanters and combined harvester-thresher equipment, complaining that the province no longer has enough willing farm workers.