2 million farmers avail of loan program offered by Landbank

The Landbank of the Philippines has provided P227.47 billion worth of agriculture loans as of June.
Of these loans, P35.63B was outstanding loans to small farmers, fishers, cooperatives, and farmers associations. This includes direct lending to farmers and fishers which grew by P219 million or 18.37 percent from P1.19B in May to P1.41B in June.
Loans to other players in the agri-business value chain stood at P191.84B, of which P141.67B was lent to small, medium, and large agribusiness enterprises and P50.17B financed agri-aqua related projects of local government units and government-owned and controlled corporations.
Landbank has assisted 1,976,689 small farmers and fishers nationwide representing a 98.8 percent accomplishment over the two million cumulative target for the year. The 300,825 or 18 percent increase from last May’s 1,675,864 tally was due largely to the new farmers assisted under the Department of Agriculture’s Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) Program.
Of the 1,976,689 farmers and fishers that Landbank has assisted, 1,290,240 were supported through the bank’s various regular loan offerings and lending programs implemented with the DA and the Department of Agrarian Reform. The remaining 218,530 and 467,919 small farmers were assisted specifically through the DA’s Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) Program and the FSRF Program, respectively.
“Now more than ever, Landbank continues to exert greater focus on driving support for the agriculture sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the whole-of-government approach, our strong partnerships with the DA and DAR have allowed us to fulfill our mandate of reaching and assisting more small farmers and fishers nationwide than ever before,” Landbank President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia C. Borromeo said. – Press release