The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has opened its first Agri-Hub in Central Luzon located in Rizal, Nueva Ecija as part of efforts to be more accessible to farmers and fishermen.

In the next few weeks, the state-run bank is still targeting to open four more Agri-Hubs – located in Bago City, Negros Occidental; Ubay, Bohol; Baggao, Cagayan; and Candaba, Pampanga.

This, as the bank “continues to expand its physical touchpoints to better serve the banking needs of customers across the country, especially in unbanked and underserved areas,” LANDBANK said.

The LANDBANK Rizal Nueva Ecija (NE) Agri-Hub is expected to provide financial and technical services to the Bank’s customers, including the more than 3,000 farmers and fishers from the municipalities of Rizal and Pantabangan.

Located strategically in the top rice-producing provinces in the country, the LANDBANK Agri-Hubs is designed to deliver accessible and reliable financial services to farmers nationwide.

This forms part of the Bank’s thrust of responding to the developing needs of the agriculture sector, especially under the new normal.

The LANDBANK Rizal NE Agri-Hub offers banking services such as account opening, withdrawals, and check encashments; lending services such as the processing of loan applications; and agrarian services such as processing of Agrarian Reform (AR) bonds and handling of agrarian-related concerns from landowners, bondholders, and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

Aside from agriculture stakeholders, the Rizal NE Agri-Hub will also service various national and local government offices, private establishments, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the area.

It will also offer access to various digital banking platforms, including the Digital Onboarding System (DOBS) which simplifies the account opening process for new clients to only 10 to 15 minutes.

The Rizal NE Agri-Hub is the sixth to open nationwide, bringing LANDBANK’s physical network to 412 branches and 69 branch-lite units, with a presence in all 81 provinces in the country.

The five other LANDBANK Agri-Hubs are situated in Calabanga, Camarines Sur; Barotac Viejo, Iloilo; Sual, Pangasinan; Echague, Isabela and Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur.

As of July of this year, LANDBANK had so far released more than P13 billion in loans and cash grants to nearly a million farmers and fishermen for this year.

The bank also assisted cumulatively 2.7 million farmers and fishers nationwide as of May. Of this, 991,577 were supported through loan and cash grant releases amounting to P13.39 billion under programs administered by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“LANDBANK remains one with the Department of Agriculture and other government partners in serving the requirements of farmers and fisherfolk nationwide to increase their productivity and income. We are committed to delivering accessible and responsive financial services toward revitalizing our local economy and ensuring food security,” LANDBANK President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said in an earlier statement.

Of the total disbursements, P5.10 billion was released under the DA’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) that benefitted 40,556 farmers and fishers.

The ACEF program provides necessary credit for increased productivity through the purchase of farm inputs and equipment, as well as agri-based production and post-production processing machinery and facilities.