By Manny Piñol
Strawberry Fields, La Trinidad, Benguet – For paying their loans 100%, farmers in the Cordillera Region, most of them engaged in high value vegetable production, will now have access to a P100-M credit facility from the Department of Agriculture through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC).
During the Biyaheng Bukid Farmers Forum held in the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad town Friday, I congratulated the hundreds of Cordillera Farmers because of their trustworthiness by paying their loans 100% on time.
Last year, after the Duterte Administration moved to save the P800-M vegetable trading center from becoming another White Elephant because farmers did not like to bring their produce to the BAPTC, the ACPC offered a loan facility of P46-M under the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) program.
Farmers who brought their vegetables to the BAPTC where buyers from the lowlands came to buy these, were given access to the loan fund.
The PLEA program offers loans to farmers ranging from P5,000 to P50,000 per farmer at 6% interest yearly. The interest payment actually goes to their cooperative which is handling the loan program.
The PLEA Program is supervised by a Program Management Officer from the ACPC.
This resulted in the increase in the number of farmers who moved to the BAPTC from the old trading center in La Trinidad which was being converted into a commercial facility by the local government unit.
The record of 100% repayment encouraged officials of the Agriculture Department to provide additional support to the region, especially the province of Benguet where most of the vegetables come from.
On Friday, aside from increasing the loan fund from P46-M to P100-M this year, I also opened the farm equipment and machinery loan fund which they could access to buy cargo trucks to haul their vegetables from the farm to the BAPTC, motorized cultivators, hand tractors and farm tractors.
I also committed to distribute to outstanding farmers’ cooperatives plastic crates for the handling of their vegetable produce and packaging facilities.
The farmers enthusiastically welcomed the opening of the new loan saying that this would now slowly liberate them from the “Disposers” who have provided them with loans at higher interest rates.
This credit program is expected to increase farmers’ income and motivate them to produce more.
(Photos taken by Biyaheng Bukid Team of the Office of the Secretary, Department of Agriculture. Permission is granted to those who would like to download and use the photos for news purposes.)
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