Agri council wants DBM to release P12B to plug credit gap

The Agriculture Credit and Policy Council (ACPC) on Thursday urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P12 billion in fresh funds and plug the growing credit gap in agriculture productivity programs. ACPC executive director Jovita Corpuz said the council has been pushing for the release of funds since the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act was implemented in 1998 or over 12 years ago. “It is highly recommended that the DBM should release this to ease the credit squeeze and provide support to the government's sufficiency programs," she said during the Credit Summit in Pasay City. The credit requirement of the Agriculture Department’s selected priority commodities, including palay, corn, coconut, sugarcane is estimated at P359 billion, according to ACPC, of which 30 percent or P107 billion have been financed by banks, leaving a credit gap of over P252 billion. Commodities from the fishing industry are part of the items in need of credit and finance. Under Republic Act (RA) 8435 or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, the Agro-Industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program should have been given P2 billion in its first year of implementation and P1.7 billion every year for the next 6 years. Financing small farmers "If we were able to get the P12 billion, it would have gone a long way in providing financing to unorganized small farmers and fisher folks," said Corpuz. Currently, the lending program is funded by loan payments of farmers involved in lending projects that were terminated years ago. According to the Agriculture and Fisheries Credit Strategic Plan 2011-2016 which the ACPC presented Thursday, the number of farmers and fishermen borrowing from formal sources should grow by 57 percent to 85 percent by 2016. Corpuz said the goal is for the credit program to reach more than 800,000 farmers and fishing households. Under the plan the Land Bank of the Philippines will expand its portfolio for agri-fisheries lending, especially for small farmers and fishermen while reducing the cost of lending and giving private banks the incentives to increase their agriculture and fisheries sector lending. — BC/VS, GMA News