TASK GROUP FORMED TO HANDLE EASY ACCESS CREDIT PROGRAM

A Task Group has been formally formed to handle the implementation of the Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) Program of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The loaning program will be pilot-tested in two towns with contrasting poverty status – Malimono, Surigao del Norte, a fishing town with a 90% poverty incidence and Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, a relatively progressive town which is considered as the Onion capital of the Philippines.

Heading the Task Group is Executive Director Jocelyn Badiola of the Agriculture Credit Policy Council (ACPC) with Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation President Jovy Bernabe and Information, Communications Technonology Service Chief Clint Hassan as members.

The Task Group during the final organisation meeting was directed to send personnel to the two towns to start the identification and accreditation of the farmers and fishermen in the area.

All the information gathered will be in-putted in a computer data base and their areas included in a geo-tagging program which will use drones and satellites to identify the location of their farms or fishing grounds.

This will be the task of the ICTS group.

Those who will be granted the loans with a maximum loanable amount of P50,000 will then be covered with a Crop Insurance and will be asked to pay for 40% of the insurance premium or P2,000 to be deducted from the loan.

The loan interest rate is only 6% or 0.5% per month and payable in a period ranging from two years to 10 years depending on the commodity or activity the loan applicant is involved with.

The loans will be coursed through a local credit cooperative which will be directly supervised by the ACPC.

Before the end of the year, additional pilot areas all over the country will also be identified.

#Changeishere! #DuterteDelivers! #PresRodyCares!

(Photos of final organisational meeting of the PLEA Program Task Group taken by Gian Carlo Luague, DA-AFID.)