The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday said it will encourage multinational and private businesses to invest in rural areas to improve the country’s agriculture sector to boost the government’s “Balik Probinsya” program.
In a news statement, the DA said the implementation of the “Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa” (BP2) program will not only decongest urban areas but will also “pave the way to modernizing and industrializing the Philippine countryside.”
“As part of the BP2 program, the Duterte administration will encourage multinational companies and investors to put up rural and agribusiness enterprises to attract returnees,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said.
Dar added that the DA will “continue to encourage the adoption of quality inputs and innovative technologies to further increase agricultural and fishery production.”
These entail the continued promotion of the use of quality seeds and hybrids, and plant nutrients and fertilizers, including the establishment of needed production, postharvest and cold chain facilities, including transport and logistics, according to DA.
“Thus, under the ‘whole-of-nation approach,’ the DA will converge with other government agencies to create more livelihood opportunities and employment for both agri-fishery and non-farm sectors, enhance the capacities of farmers’ cooperatives and associations [FCAs], and extend technical, financial and marketing support to ensure the success of the BP2 program,” Dar said.
“We want the BP2 program beneficiaries to be productive and self-sustaining. As such, we will help them enlist as members of FCAs, teach them modern and innovative technologies, provide them farm inputs, machinery, and equipment, and give them access to affordable credit,” he added.
The DA, through its attached agency the Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC), has opened a loan facility for B2P program beneficiaries such as micro and small enterprises (MSEs), millennials, and existing agripreneurs.
“Individuals can borrow P25,000, zero interest, payable in 10 years, while MSEs can secure loans of up to P10 million, zero interest and payable in five years,” it said.
“Further, in identified BP2 program sites the DA will assist in farm consolidation and clustering to create economies of scale, and thus attain desired cost efficiencies in the production of various food and processed products,” it added.
As a support to the government’s B2P program, the DA said it has converted its previous National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development into the Convergence and Balik Probinsya program.
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