State-owned Landbank of the Philippines said that financing support to improve and construct farm infrastructure and post harvest facilities accounted for the bulk of its loans to the agriculture sector.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, Landbank said that about P94.01 billion of the total P233.6 billion in loans to the agriculture sector at end October this year went to farm infrastructure and post harvest facilities.

According to Landbank, the outstanding loans to the agriculture sector is now 93 percent of its P251.5 billion target in 2021.

Landbank also assisted 2,987,929 farmers and fishers, representing an increase of 13,125 of which 10,189 availed of regular loans from last month’s figure of 2,974,804.

The bank said the P5.39 billion net growth in loans as of October was attributed to the increase in loan releases of P4.41 billion to small, medium, and large agribusiness enterprises from last September.

In terms of economic activity, loans supporting agri-related activities such as the improvement and establishment of public markets, farm to market roads, warehouses, cold storages, irrigation systems, fish port, and agri-tourism have picked up with an increase of P5.79 billion.

Of the P233.6 billion in agriculture loans, close to two-thirds or P150.16 billion supported small, medium and large agribusinesses enterprises, while P32.92 billion went to small farmers and fishers.

The agri-aqua related projects of local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) received P50.52 billion.

Small farmers and fishers borrowed a total of P1.34 billion through direct lending, and another P31.58 billion through conduits such as cooperatives and farmers’ associations, rural financial institutions, and other credit mechanisms.

As of October, Landbank has also released 100 percent of the P11.04 billion in program funds of farmer-friendly loans it has been administering for the Department of Agriculture (DA).

For the Credit Assistance Program-Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) it has been administering for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Landbank has also released the full P65 million program fund for loans to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

In terms of economic activity, outstanding loans to agri-processing and trading activities reached P84.48 billion of the total loans, while the livestock subsector was supported with P34.95 billion; crops, P17.74 billion; and fisheries, P2.43 billion as of end-October.


Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2021/12/04/landbank-post-harvest-infra-facility-loans-hit-p94-b/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=landbank-post-harvest-infra-facility-loans-hit-p94-b)