UCPB unit lending to coconut farmers declines nearly 32%

UCPB-CIIF Finance and Development Corp. said livelihood loan disbursements to small coconut farmers declined in the third quarter.
UCPB-CIIF Finance, one of the development lending arms of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) Group and the Coconut Industry Fund (CIIF) companies, said in a statement it released P125.6 million in new livelihood loans to small coconut farmers in the three months to September, down 31.96% from a year earlier.
This brought the year-to-date total for lending was P278.7 million, down 15.16% from a year earlier.
UCPB-CIIF Finance had not replied to a request for comment at deadline time.
UCPB-CIIF Finance President Edgardo C. Amistad said in the statement the lending firm has been providing financing to coconut farmers since 1995 for short-gestation projects that generate quick returns such as cash crop cultivation and village-based processing of coconuts, among others.
The company was formed in late 1994 to lend to coconut farmers who cannot tap other formal credit sources.
Since then, UCPB-CIIF Finance has released loans amounting to P9.3 billion to 447,000 coconut farmers. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal