LAND BANK of the Philippines (LANDBANK) said it turned over P54.86-million worth of farm equipment to farmers in Bohol.
The turnover took place during the Farmers’ Caravan event in Pilar, Bohol. A total of 142 farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB), and members of irrigators’ associations and cooperatives attended the program.
The equipment included 41 four-wheel drive (4WD) tractors, 7 Kubota Rice Combine Harvesters and 10 Kubota Rice transplanters, which were given to beneficiaries under LANDBANK’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) program and the Agri-Mechanization Financing Program.
The event was held in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), as well as the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), National Food Authority (NFA), and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC).
The state-owned bank also offered three lending programs, namely ACEF, Sikat Saka Program and the Accessible Funds for Delivery to ARBs (AFFORD-ARB) Program to the farmers.
“As of June 30, 2019, the combined loans extended to the agriculture sector and the Bank’s other mandated sectors reached P219.63 billion, which is 27.45% of LANDBANK’s total loans to all sectors of P799.64 billion,” LANDBANK said in a statement.
LANDBANK said its Bohol Lending Center as of the end of June had allocated 63.61%, or P2.6 billion of its loan portfolio of P4.09 billion to agriculture-related accounts. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
