AgriNurture Inc. (ANI), the listed agriculture company controlled by businessman Antonio Tiu, has partnered with Land Bank of the Philippines to launch an electronic voucher platform to serve farmers in rural communities nationwide.
In a statement, ANI said the platform will provide micro-financing for farmers in targeted clusters and cooperatives in rural farming communities in the form of e-voucher.
"This will enable the unbanked masses the opportunity to be issued online bank accounts and access to the banking grid despite being located in areas with no access to wired internet," ANI and Landbank said in their Memorandum of Understanding.
Under the agreement, ANI and affiliates shall select and endorse farmers and cooperatives for financing by Landbank. It will also enter into marketing agreements with accredited farmers and provide them with technical assistance as well.
On the other hand, Landbank will provide financing to the farmers endorsed by ANI and evaluate the feasibility of integrating ANI's online system with ANI's e-voucher system.
The overall aim of the Memorandum is to provide a more efficient and convenient financing platform to farmers and other beneficiaries of Landbank, ANI and its affiliates.
ANI said it tapped Landbank because the government financial institution is mandated to provide accessible and technology solutions to provide timely and responsive financial services to farmers and MSMEs among others.
In all, Tiu plans to digitally transform the agriculture sector and serve the unserved and underserved sectors of society through digital infrastructure which would then have synergies with his other businesses and help spur rural development.
This would help farmers, producers, distributors and end users to access much needed micro finance for inputs and make cashless payments within its ecosystem secured by a purchase contract.
Farmers can use to the e-vouchers to buy from accredited merchants everything they need to produce contracted crops. They can easily tap the credit using their smart phones upon accreditation.
Tiu said this is better than lending out cash which may otherwise be used for non farming related activities.
ANI and Landbank are preparing to launch the agri ecosystem with initial implementation in Luzon and Mindanao focused on major crops such as rice and banana.
If the program succeeds, ANI would cover the rest of the country and add more crops to the coverage of the program.
ANI is one of the Philippines' major exporters of fruits to the world and pioneer of coconut water and
plant based products. It has recently launch its plant based coconut ice cream and meat substitutes under Big Chill.