To assist rice farmers of Apayao and Kalinga by increased productivity and income through low-cost credit, financial assistance, and ready markets for their harvest, six (6) farmers cooperatives and associations (FCAs) have been endorsed to be included in the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid (APP) program recently launched by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Zambales coinciding with the President’s birthday last September 13 this year.
In the Provincial Rice Technology Forum and pre-launching activity in Flora, Apayao last September 10,2024, DA Director for Digitalization and Value Chain Development Glenn D.C. Estrada explained the department and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) have secured the initial PhP3.0 billion funding to provide a combination of low-interest loans and subsistence allowances for farmers.
“The DA has allotted P360 million for three FCAs in Kalinga and three in Apayao following the endorsement by DA-CAR for these FCAs to be potential partner-implementors for the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid program. These FCAs will undergo the necessary evaluation by the DBP to determine their capacity to pay the loan that may be granted to them by DBP,” Estrada said.
This initiative of the DA is designed to address the critical challenges faced by farmers in terms of access to financing, rising costs of inputs, and market instability. The program will offer enhanced credit facilities to those already holding intervention monitoring cards (IMC), which can be used to purchase seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and ameliorants, and to pay for services through PPI-accredited merchants.
Through this APP Program, the farmer-beneficiaries will have access to financial assistance, access to affordable essential inputs, and secure market opportunities, leaving the farmer to focus solely on labor.
Estrada stated that Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. conceptualized the APP program aligned with the Marcos administration’s goal to make farming more bankable, attract more and bigger investments, nurture a new generation of farmers by uplifting their living conditions, and ensure national food security and sustainability in the Philippines.
“The objective of Secretary Laurel is to remove our farmers’ worries and focus on increasing production using technology. They farmer-members of the selected FCAs may not only have access to the said loan, and will give them the opportunity of having an assured market for the excess rice produced like the National Food Authority and the private sector,” Estrada added.
DA-CAR Rice Program Focal Person Edwin Joseph Franco identified the Flora Farm Cluster Agriculture Cooperative, Tanglagan Multipurpose Cooperative, Sta. Marcela Rice Farmers Agriculture Cooperative of Apayao, the San Pedro Agricultural Cooperative, Matagoan Agriculture Cooperative, and the Rio Chico Agriculture Cooperative of Kalinga as the FCAs conduits of DBP for APP recommended by DA-CAR.
The six FCAs from the said provinces were part of the pioneering cooperative associations that underwent the nationwide intervention monitoring card (IMC) processing in March this year. By JTLlanes
