The Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) said it forged an agreement with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for a P5-billion lending program which seeks to facilitate agrarian reform beneficiaries’ (ARBs) access to credit.
LandBank it signed the memorandum of agreement to formally implement the Accessible Funds for Delivery to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (AFFORD-ARBs) lending program with DAR on October 9.
Under the program, LandBank allocated P5 billion that could be tapped by ARBs to “finance the production of rice, corn and high-value crops, as well as acquisition of small farm implements.”
“The farmers, whom the President Duterte and most Filipino people regard as one of the heroes of our society, must be given the special treatment that they deserve,” said Agrarian Reform Secretary John R. Castriciones in a statement.
“This would empower them to support their families, and at the same time, to be competent in their respective [agriculture] fields,” Castriciones added.
LandBank said the AFFORD-ARBs program would be focused on individual ARBs under the list that would be provided by DAR and the bank’s agrarian service sgroup.
The bank added that it would also provide technical assistance to the ARB-borrowers through loan orientation and financial literacy seminars.
“We are grateful to have a solid partnership with DAR, which allows us to pursue a more focused and direct approach in lending to individual small farmers. By being able to identify the ARBs that we need to target, we are able to focus our efforts and provide the appropriate financing and technical support,” said LandBank President Cecilia C. Borromeo.
The rollout of the AFFORD-ARBs is part of the LandBank’s efforts to ensure that its services are more accessible to farmers and fishermen, it said.