Landbank extends P125M-loan to agrarian reform projects
More than 12,000 households in agrarian reform communities (ARCs) nationwide have so far been reached through the Agrisol, a program jointly implemented by Landbank and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) through the funding support of the World Bank.
Landbank president and chief executive officer Gilda E. Pico said loans were extended to ARCs through various program conduits such as cooperatives, the National Confederation of Cooperatives, countryside financial institutions and anchor firms.
The amount represents 40 percent of the P317 million which Landbank has committed for the program.
The number of borrowers, meanwhile, represents 42 percent of the 28,800 target borrowers of the program.
For its part, the World Bank has extended P25.7 million as grant to the program for capacity-building of cooperatives in the identified areas.
Agrisol aims to strengthen the institutional viability of ARCs through enterprise-based and market-led financing intervention.
Under this program, generation of savings and capital build-up of ARC coops are also being looked at for sustainability and enable them to qualify and have better access to the lending facilities of formal financial institutions.
“In this enterprise-based and market-led financing program, we see to it that the borrowers must have an identified market for their produce or have a marketing tie-up with a reliable market outlet or buyer before specific trainings and financing will be provided,” Pico said.
Projects financed under the Agrisol include a variety of agri-related activities or commodities such as palay and corn in Ilocos Norte, Isabela and Occidental Mindoro, geotextile projects in Quezon and Misamis Occidental, rubber and palm oil production in Compostela Valley, sugarcane farming and organically grown bananas in Negros Oriental, and cavendish banana plantation in Davao Norte.
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