Landbank lends P81B to agri-fishery sector in ’05

The Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) increased its lending to the agriculture and fishery sectors in 2005 to P81 billion which represents 67 percent of the bank’s total loan portfolio of P120 billion.

"We’ve surpassed our year-end 2005 target of 65 percent share for our priority sectors. This reflects our intensified support for our key priority sectors," said Landbank acting president and CEO Gilda E. Pico.

Landbank’s priority sectors include the small farmers and fisherfolk, microenterprises and SMEs, agri-business, agri-infrastructure, agri-related projects, livelihood and environment-related projects.

Loans to micro-enterprises and SMEs amounted to P19.2 billion from P17.2 billion in 2004, representing 16 percent of the bank‚s loan portfolio. Loans to small farmers and fisherfolk reached P17.1 billion from P16.3 billion, exceeding the 2005 target loans to this sector of P16.5 billion.

The share of loans for agri-infrastructure projects of local government units increased to P12.4 billion from P11.5 billion last year, while share of loans for agri-related projects of government owned and controlled corporations reached P10.1 billion from P9.5 billion in 2004.

Loans for agribusiness and environment-related projects reached P17.5 billion and P2.1 billion, respectively.

Pico said that for 2006, Landbank is targeting to release P17.5 billion in loans to small farmers and fisherfolk and increase microfinance portfolio to P2.1 billion.

Landbank will also be prioritizing for lending this year, exporters of food and agricultural commodities.

"This is part of Landbank’s support to stimulate agricultural production. With the continued migration and overseas employment of more Filipinos, the overseas market for Filipino food and delicacies will likely increase. Thus, we want to provide financial support to food exporters to meet these demands," said Pico.

Loan releases to the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization (AFMA) program totaled P21 billion. Pico said Landbank‚s loan under the AFMA program benefited almost 300,000 small farmers and fisherfolks and generated 192,000 new jobs.

"The P4.2-billion represents 22 percent of our 2005 AFMA target of P19 billion," said Teves.

"Our March performance represents a 100 percent jump from the P2.1 billion we released for AFMA for the first two months of the year."

Its loans under the AFMA program benefited more than 90,000 small farmers and fisherfolk, generating more than 48,000 new jobs since the year‚s onset.

The bank’s credit support for AFMA has five components: production, processing and manufacturing; farmers-fisherfolk marketing assistance; post-harvest facilities; other infrastructure, and irrigation.