The Land Bank of the Philippines reported extending loans under the expanded rice credit assistance program of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ERCA-RCEF) reaching P2.5 billion as of end-April this year.
The state-owned lender said it successfully disbursed the P500 million allocated annual fund under ERCA-RCEF from 2019 to 2023 and continues to make loans available to rice farmers and their cooperatives at affordable interest rates with minimum documentary requirements.
“Land Bank’s support to the agriculture sector is crucial to ensuring food security in the country. We are committed to providing continued financial assistance to our rice farmers to help them sustain their operations and improve productivity, especially in the face of challenges, including the El Niño phenomenon,” said Lynette Ortiz, Land Bank president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
According to Ortiz, the P2.5 billion worth of loans released under ERCA-RCEF benefitted over 15,400 individual rice farmers and 270 cooperatives with more than 21,300 member-beneficiaries which were channeled to support palay production, milling and trading, re-lending, and acquisition of farm machinery.
Under the program, 98 percent of Land Bank’s direct borrowers were individual rice farmers, the majority of whom were borrowers from the rice producing provinces of Cagayan Valley, particularly Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino. A total P612.4 million worth of loans benefited 4,945 borrowers from the region.
In Central Luzon, 2,243 borrowers accessed Land Bank loans amounting to P840.3 million.
Land Bank also extended assistance to rice farmers in the Visayas and Mindanao, including the province of Capiz, Leyte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, North Cotabato and Zamboanga del Sur.
