Land Bank Kalinga serves more farmers

CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga --Small farmers are now served by one of the government’s lending institutions giving low interest for agriculture production, equipment and machine loans.

Albert Galut of Land Bank’s Cordillera Administrative Region Lending Center here said a lot of small farmers are now availing loan assistance since the establishment of the lending institution here.

More than 500 farmers from Kalinga, Apayao and Mountain Province have applied for the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) that grants P1 million maximum loan, he said.

ACEF only requires security of loan like title and for the borrower to execute a sworn affidavit that he has no outstanding loan from other lending institutions.

Lily Herjoan Caguay, also of the lending center, reported during the Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises Development Council meeting that six re-lending cooperatives loaned under the Agrarian Production Credit Program and 18 irrigators association from the Sikat Saka Program.

She said The Agricultural Fisheries Financing Program (AFFP) ceased to exist and was replaced by ACEF to provide loans at a much lower interest.

The AFFP catered to 32 organizations that loaned a total of P37 million for palay production.  

 Galut also bared that the Accessible and Sustainable Lending Program (ASL) will be implemented next year after it was piloted in Isabela and Vizcaya.

Like ACEF, it only requires guarantee or insurance as loan security.

“This is much bigger. Individual small farmers including agrarian beneficiaries can avail of 90 percent of the total project cost at 6% interest per annum,” he said. -- PIA Kalinga