WV farmer-borrowers incur P127M in loans

By Maricar M. Calubiran

Some 2,169 farmers in the region have an outstanding loan of P127,618.96 from the various credit programs implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the past three decades. The Agricultural Credit Policy Council(ACPC) is hoping to collect at least 20 percent of the loan.

ACPC Executive Director Jovita Corpuz said these loans were part of the agri-credit receivables that have accumulated over the years. The loans were incurred from 1975 until 1995 under the Masagana 99 and Masaganang Maisan programs of the government which offers loans to farmers with lower interest rates.

ACPC records show that the 651 farmer-borrowers in Iloilo have the biggest outstanding loan. The loan reached to P36,947.24. Of the 651 borrowers, nine came from Iloilo City.

It is being followed by Negros Occidental with P31,218.33 outstanding loan. There were 517 farmer-borrowers in Negros Occidental.

Antique ranks third with 285 farmer-borrowers. They incurred an outstanding loan of P20,515.94. In Aklan, the 315 farmer-borrowers have an outstanding loan of P17,169.40.  On the other hand,  the 285 farmer-borrowers in Capiz have an outstanding loan of P16,435.60. While, the 85 farmer-borrowers in the province of Guimaras have an outstanding loan of P4,700.36.

Corpuz said majority of the borrowers are rice and corn farmers. The loans were either in form of cash or in kind. The council is hoping to collect at least 20 percent of the loan they got from the government. “It is an ambitious target but it could help support the project of the Department of Agriculture” she said.

At present, the ACPC hopes to collect P22 million agricultural loan in the provinces of Aklan and Antique after they forged an agreement with the Rural Bank of New Washington in Aklan and Rural Bank of Tibiao in Antique. The contract was signed Friday in Iloilo City.The signatories in the contract were Corpuz, ACPC Director 2 Veronica Paden-Santos, Heddy Tamayo, president of the Rural Bank of Tibiao, Raul Balandra, manager of the Rural Bank of New Washington, Aklan and DA regional director Jindra Linda Demeterio.

The rural banks were tapped by the ACPC as loan collection agents. The bank will have a 30 percent share in every paid loan. They (rural banks) are experts when it comes to collection, said Corpuz.

The collection of the agricultural loan is carried out by the ACPC as mandated in Republic Act 8435 or the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA). The ACPC is composed of representatives from NEDA, DoF, DBM and Bangko Sentral.

Section 21 of the AFMA states that all funds of the government agri-credit programs including receivables are to be collected and consolidated into an umbrella financing program for the  agriculture and fisheries sector called Agro-Industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program (AMCFP).