New LandBank lending scheme prioritizes agrarian beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Bank of the Philippines has launched a new loan program that will prioritize lending to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The Accessible and Sustainable Lending Program for Small Farmers is in partnership with the departments of Agrarian Reform and  Agriculture.

“This will make credit accessible to most Filipino farmers at a low interest rate of six percent per annum. This complements our existing agricultural lending programs to help small farmers increase their productivity and income,” LandBank president and CEO Alex Buenaventura said.

The first loan module lends to individual small farmers where ARBs can avail of crop production loans of up to 90 percent of the cost, with interest rate fixed at six percent per annum.

Another credit program for individual farmers is the freedom from debt loan, a one-time loan take-out which can cover the debt of farmers from various credit conduits.

LandBank will also provide term loans to agri-based cooperatives and associations where eligible borrowers can avail to acquire farm machineries and equipment, post-harvest and processing facilities.

Lending will also be available to farmer corporatives which enter into a farm management and marketing agreement with a big agriculture  corporation.

Under the program, Land Bank will take charge of land consolidation for small farmers and handle fully integrated corporate loans for production, post-harvest and processing with lower debt to equity ratio of 90:10 at competitive interest rates

“The big agri companies will borrow all production cost financing requirements from LandBank. The main objective is to raise the income of each farmer family way above the P10,000 poverty line threshold per month,” Buenaventura said.

The ASL farmers program is pursuant to a Presidential directive which directs Land Bank, in coordination with the DA and DAR, to reach out to farmers and provide them with financial assistance for their agricultural needs.