"We hope to be more aggressive in lending this year and we are further intensifying our loan generation mechanisms and zero in on more projects geared toward improving agricultural productivity,"said Quedancor president Nelson Buenaflor during the agency’s anniversary celebration yesterday.
Buenaflor said that of the total loans released last year, P1.9 billion or 36 percent went to various livelihood programs of the corporation. The livestock sector received P1.4 billion, the poultry industry P1.2 billion while the crops sector received P809 million.
To accommodate the projected increase in loan demand this year, Buenaflor said it will tap loans from its existing credit windows with banks such as the Landbank of the Philippines of which it has an outstanding credit line of P1.2 billion. Earlier this year, Quedancor issued P750 million worth of promissory notes (PNs.).
He said Quedancor will also explore the capital market as a source of additional funding.
In 2005, Quedancor increased its capital base to P10 billion, enabling it to expand its lending operations in agricultural production, processing, storage and marketing activities for organized farmer groups and individual farmers and agri-based entrepreneurs.
Quedancor, the credit arm of the Department of Agriculture, is mandated to speed up the flow of investments and credit resources into countryside enterprises in an effort to spur economic growth and employment. – Rocel Felix