Gov't OK's financing for seaweed, fisherfolk beneficiaries

The government has approved a P3.5-million loan that will benefit seaweed and fisherfolk beneficiaries in Mindoro, Batangas and Guimaras. A seaweed processing venture in Balatasan, Oriental Mindoro with an approved loan of P500,000 is expected to benefit 30 seaweed producers, while a tilapia production project in Laurel, Batangas was also granted a P500,000 loan for 30 fisherfolk beneficiaries. A seaweed farming expansion in Sibunag, Guimaras was likewise given a P2.5-million loan for 162 seaweed farmers. State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines will release the loans, which will be covered by holdout funds of the bank, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Fisheries financing is a lending program under the Agro Industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program (AMCFP), the government’s umbrella financing program for agriculture and fisheries. Under the scheme, the ACPC will place a P33-million program fund in Landbank as deposit holdout fund to cover the bank’s exposure to new unaccredited conduits. The conduit organizations will then either retail the funds as microfinance loans to small fishing households or as loans to finance any of the activities in the value chain of small players in the fisheries industry. Under the program, Landbank offers lending conduits three types of financing facilities. First, there is portfolio rediscounting, which provides borrower organizations a credit line from which they can lend to individual borrowers whose promissory notes are endorsed to Landbank for 100 percent rediscounting. There is also a short-term working capital loan that will cover the operational and management expenses of an income-generating project proposed by a borrower organization or institution. There is also a term loan facility that will allow a borrower organization to expand its project’s operations and increase profits over a period longer than a year. Eligible sub-borrowers include household heads, spouses, or working adult members of small fishing households. Only one member per household is allowed to borrow at a time. The credit limit for value chain financing is P100,000 per borrower while the limit for microfinancing, which will depend on the borrower’s ability to repay, will not exceed P50,000 per borrower. For value chain financing, loan maturity will not exceed a year. Microfinancing loans have a one year maturity, with at least 30 percent of the loan amount to be amortized at least a month. Meanwhile, interest rates and collateral requirements for borrowers will depend on prevailing interest rates and security policies of lending conduits. — GMANews.TV