City to grant zero-interest loans to farmers

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government will provide a zero interest loan program to the farmers through the Agriculture Department to help farmers earn more in their livelihood.

City agriculturist Joey Baclayon said there are farmers who are under contracts with private growers but are charged with higher interests.

“Dagko kaayong interest. Unya pabut-on lang pud like presyo, pila ilang kuhaon. So why not ang city mo initiate og ingon ana di ba? Di pa mabug-atan ang mga farmers,” Baclayon said.

He added that they will try their best to begin the program in the second quarter of this year. The city has set aside a P5-million budget for the program.

Each organization of the farmers can borrow up to P100,000 depending on the approval of their proposal. They will be required to pay it off within one year.

Officials in every organization will then decide on the sharing of the money that they borrowed.

The city has around 14,000-15,000 farmers. The Cebu City Farmers Federation alone has 56 primary associations with 30 to 150 members.

“But for now, ato sang girehistro atong farmers sa city aron sila ma-recognize,” Baclayon said, adding that the registration will start this March

He also said that they will prioritize those farmers who fell victims of the unusual weather condition that happened last month.

Meanwhile, Baclayon added that their Farmer Entrepreneurship Program, which started in February last year, has been successful and is still ongoing.

This program is in cooperation with the National Livelihood and Development Corporation, LAMAC Multipurpose Cooperative, Catholic Relief Services and Jollibee Food Corporation.

Through this program, the farmers are trained and assured to have buyers for their products.

Baclayon said farmers have a required quota with their buyer, the Jollibee Food Corporation, and if they have already reached it, they can now sell their products to other buyers.

Because of this, they are encouraged to improve the quality of their products.

“They have agreed to meet the standard sa quality, mao ni ang size, ang weight and form; somehow ma-educate ang farmers, nga dili lang kay mo-produce for the sake nga makabaligya. They have to meet the standard ug unsa gikinahanglan sa mga consumers,” he said.

After the series of trainings last June, they had started the planting season, and then by January this year would have already tested marketing.   (FREEMAN)