The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Sunday that it has released loans amounting to P2.79 million through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) to two farmers’ cooperatives in Benguet.
The DA said its attached agency released the loans to upland vegetable farmers of Lengaoan Indigenous Farmers Credit Cooperative (LIFCC) and the Pakiya Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PMPC). The amount is expected to benefit 39 vegetable farmers.
“The ACPC released the loans to upland vegetable farmers during the loan disbursement ceremony held recently at the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center in La Trinidad, Benguet,” the DA said in a statement.
Agriculture Undersecretary for High Value Crops and Rural Credit Evelyn G. Laviña and ACPC Executive Director Jocelyn Alma R. Badiola led the loan disbursement ceremony.
The loan release is the first batch of the P7-million credit fund allocations to LIFCC and P1.5 million to PMPC to support vegetable production activities of their members, according to the DA.
“The loan was under the DA’s Program for Unified Lending to Agriculture (Punla), Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol’s commitment to provide fast, convenient and affordable loans to farmers and fishers in priority areas nationwide,”
the DA said.
In February the ACPC Governing Council, the highest policy-making body of the ACPC, agreed to trim down the seven existing loan programs of the ACPC to two to three credit facilities under Punla.
The ACPC Governing Council is comprised of the heads of the DA, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the departments of Finance and Budget and Management and the National Economic and Development Authority.
With an initial funding of P200 million, Piñol said Punla targets to boost the respective agri-fishery industries of the 10 poorest provinces in the country-Apayao, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Cotabato, Sarangani, Maguindanao, Eastern Samar, Western Samar and Northern Samar.
Badiola said borrowers may avail up to P150,000 loan at a 6-percent interest rate with one-year maturity.
The DA said the individual loans to farmers will be released by the Philippine Veterans Banks (PVB) through automated teller machine (ATM) cards issued by the bank to the farmer-borrowers.
The ATM card will also serve as the farmers’ savings account. It has a maintaining balance of only P100 and is offered by the PVB exclusively to Punla borrowers.