Farmers, fisherfolk loans total P391M in 1H — DA

Loans worth P391.4 million were released to farmers and fisherfolk in the first six months of 2010, the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. The money released under the department’s Agro-industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program (AMCFP) benefited close to 11,000 farmers and fisherfolk, Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) director Jovita Corpuz said in a statement Wednesday. Corpuz explained that the AMCFP — government’s agriculture credit program — offers several financing schemes to farmers and fisherfolk who lack collateral. “The AMCFP can finance practically all agricultural and fisheries projects and commodities. The loans released during the first semester of this year provided credit for the production of rice, corn, sugarcane, abaca, tomato, tobacco, and vegetables; poultry and hog raising; and aquaculture projects nationwide," according to the statement. Corpuz explained that the program includes the Cooperative Banks Agri-Lending Program, which was able to release P261.5 million to more than 2,400 farmers and fisherfolk nationwide. Also, part of the AMCFP is the agri-microfinance program that provided P68.1 million to agriculture workers. For the first six months of the year, the AMCFP releases covered the P31.1-million credit program for tomato farmers and the P3.7-million microfinance program for agri-fishery, she added. The Agriculture Department's ACPC oversees the government’s agriculture credit program, and works with private financial institutions to facilitate the release of loans to agriculture workers. — Andreo Calonzo/JE/VS, GMANews.TV