The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has moved closer to the amount of loans it targets to lend to the agriculture sector for this year, with farmers' and fishermen’s borrowings from the state-run bank already reaching P230.23 billion as of October.
This, according to LANDBANK makes up 94 percent of its target of P245-billion agricultural loan for 2020, which will be 4 percent higher than the P236.31 billion it lent to the farm sector in 2019.
As of now, over 2.5 million farmers and fishers have already benefited from the bank’s assistance, which came in the form of soft loans, subsidies, and training programs.
LANDBANK said this represents a 125-percent accomplishment rate over the 2-million target it had set for 2020.
Of the loan releases of P230.23 billion, about two-thirds or P145.86 billion, went to small, medium, and large agribusinesses enterprises.
Meanwhile, P35.66 billion went to small farmers, fisherfolk, while P48.71 billion was tapped to fund the agri-aqua related projects of local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).
LANDBANK president-CEO Cecilia Borromeo said that small farmers and fishers borrowed a total of P1.36 billion through direct lending, while loans to conduits such as cooperatives and farmers’ associations, rural financial institutions, and other lending mechanisms amounted to P34.3 billion.
As of October, LANDBANK has also provided P8.31 billion in loans through programs it has been administering for the Department of Agriculture (DA).
These programs are Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), the Socialized Credit Program under the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA), the Expanded Rice Credit Assistance (ERCA) under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), and the Survival and Recovery Assistance (SURE-Aid) for rice farmers.
For programs it has been administering for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), LANDBANK has provided P65 million as of October.
Of the total number of farmers and fishermen assisted by the bank, 716,931 small farmers were assisted through the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) and Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) programs of the DA.
Through the LANDBANK Countryside Development Foundation, the institution was also able to train 67,789 farmers in unbanked municipalities to help improve their financial literacy.
In terms of economic activity, the support to the agriculture sector through loans for the construction of irrigation systems and post-harvest facilities accounted for P99.48 billion or 43 percent of the P230.23 billion in lending to this sector.
The P74.81 billion extended to finance agri-processing and trading activities; P36.44 billion provided to the livestock subsector, and the P17.82 billion and P1.68 billion that went to the crops and fisheries subsectors, respectively, complete the breakdown of the P230.23 billion agriculture loans as of October 2020.