In line with intensifying support to the agriculture sector, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has provided P227.47 Billion-worth of agriculture loans as of June 2020.
Of these loans to agriculture, P35.63 billion was outstanding loans to small farmers, fishers, cooperatives, and farmers associations. This includes direct lending to farmers and fishers which grew by P219 million or 18.37% from P1.19 billion in May to P1.41 billion in June.
Meanwhile, loans to other players in the agri-business value chain stood at P191.84 billion, of which P141.67 billion was lent to small, medium, and large agribusiness enterprises and P50.17 billion financed agri-aqua related projects of local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).
Assisting 2 Million farmers and fishers
As of June 2020, LANDBANK has assisted 1,976,689 cumulative small farmers and fishers nationwide representing a 98.8% accomplishment over the 2 million cumulative target for the year. The 300,825 or 18% increase from last May’s 1,675,864 tally was due largely to the new farmers assisted under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) Program.
Of the 1,976,689 farmers and fishers that LANDBANK has assisted, 1,290,240 were supported through the Bank’s various regular loan offerings and lending programs jointly implemented with the DA and the Department of Agrarian Reform. The remaining 218,530 and 467,919 small farmers were assisted specifically through the DA’s Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program and the FSRF Program, respectively.
“Now more than ever, LANDBANK continues to exert greater focus on driving support for the agriculture sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the whole-of-government approach, our strong partnerships with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian Reform have allowed us to fulfill our mandate of reaching and assisting more small farmers and fishers nationwide than ever before,” LANDBANK President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.
After achieving and exceeding its target of assisting one million farmers and fishers in 2019, LANDBANK is aiming to assist an additional one million new farmers and fishers for a total of 2 million this 2020.
LANDBANK is a government financial institution with the social mandate of promoting countryside development, servicing the financial needs of small farmers and fishers, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), countryside financial institutions (CFIs), LGUs, and government institutions.
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