Two months since they asked for government’s support in accessing funds so they could improve their lives, farmers of six towns in Negros Occidental, from Antique and the onion and garlic producing municipalities of Iloilo received P100-M under the Production Loan Easy Access of the Department of Agriculture.
On Nov. 16, officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, traveled to Bacolod City to turn over to a rural bank the amount of P20-M for a lending program for farmers and fishermen in the CHICKS Region of Negros Occidetal.
CHICKS stands for Candoni, Hinobaan, Ilog, Cauayan, Kabankalan and Sipalay, six towns which are among the poorest in the province and a hotbed of the Communist insurgency.
The P20-M PLEA fund was turned over to a rural bank operating in the area during the National Shrimp Congress in Bacolod City on Nov. 16, less than two months since it was promised to the CHICKS farmers and fishermen during the Biyaheng Bukid on Sept. 28 in Ilog town.
On Nov. 17, the DA and ACPC officials proceeded to Miagao, Iloilo to turn over P30-M to three lending cooperatives in Antique and P50-M for the onion and garlic farmers of Iloilo Province.
The P30-M loan fund for Antique represents the first tranche of a P300-M PLEA allocation for one of the poorest provinces of Western Visayas where farmers and fishermen are exploited by loan sharks.
When I visited Antique a few months ago, farmers complained that for every P1,000 that they borrow from loan sharks, they pay back the amount after four months plus a staggering interest of five caverns of paddy rice valued at about P5,000.
Informed about this totally unacceptable exploitation of farmers, Senate Finance Committee Chair Loren Legarda, whose mother is from Antique, asked the DA-ACPC to provide a special loan funding for the province in the amount of P300-M.
The P50-M intended for Iloilo is intended to support the Onion and Garlic farmers of Miag-ao and surrounding towns.
Equipment and fishing boats under the FB Pagbabago Program which were promised during the Biyaheng Bukid sortie in Dumangas, Iloilo were also released last Nov. 17.
All three loaning projects will be managed by a Project Management Officer to be designated by the ACPC which will evaluate the loan application of each farmer and fisherman.
Loan applicants are required to be members of farmers and fishermen’s association or cooperative issued an Accreditation Card by the DA.
With an interest rate of 6% per annum which goes to the lending institution or the cooperatives handling the program, the PLEA is granted without any collateral.
Financing has been identified as one of the key areas which need to be given focus and attention by the Agriculture Department, the two others being the Transfer of Technology and Market Access.
Dumangas Mayor Ronald Golez, who received the fiberglass boats for the oyster farmers and fishermen of his town said it was almost unbelievable that government could now deliver its commitments in such a short period of time.
“This is real government service. Commitments are delivered fast,” he said.
(Photos. taken by DA-AFID and DA-RAFID VI photographers.)
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