State-lender Land Bank of the Philippines further increased its loan releases to agriculture sector in November last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) announced.
In a statement, the DOF said that Land Bank disbursed additional P1.44 billion worth of loans to farmers, agribusiness enterprises and other beneficiaries in November 2020.
The additional releases during the month brought Land Bank’s total lending to agriculture to P231.67 billion in the first 11-months of last year, equivalent to 94.5 percent of its P245 billion full-year goal.
Land Bank also reported to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III that it assisted 2.59 million farmers and fisherfolk as of November, more than double compared with the same period in 2019 and above their two million target for last year.
Cecilia Borromeo, Land Bank president and chief executive, explained that the assistance packages given to borrowers were in the form of soft loans, subsidies and training programs.
Of the loan releases, about two-thirds or P144.13 billion went to small, medium and large agribusiness enterprises, while the remaining third, or P87.54 billion, went to small farmers.
Fisherfolk, meanwhile, secured P37.38 billion in loans while the agri-aqua related projects of local government units as well as government-owned and controlled corporations received P50.16 billion.
Small farmers and fishers borrowed P1.34 billion through direct lending, while conduits such as cooperatives and farmers’ associations, rural financial institutions and other lending mechanisms received loans amounting to another P36.04 billion.
As of November, Land Bank also provided P8.31 billion in loans through programs it has been administering for the Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, for programs it has been administering for the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Land Bank has provided P65 million as of November.
Of the 2.59 million farmers and fisherfolk assisted, 717,241 small farmers were assisted through the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance and Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers programs.
Through the Land Bank Countryside Development Foundation, the lender was also able to train 98,639 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 P104.19 billion or 45 percent of the P231.67 billion in lending support to this sector.