Agri credit body seeks to plug P252-B credit gap

MANILA, Philippines - The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) is hopeful that a P252-billion credit gap in the agricultural sector could be bridged with the crafting of a strategic action plan.

Likewise, the ACPC is hoping that the National Government will release some P12 billion in accumulated funds that were supposed to have been released as far back as the year 2000.

According to ACPC Executive Director Jovita M. Corpuz, credit availability to the agricultural sector continues to hamper the implementation of various programs intended to help farmer and fisherfolk households.

Corpuz said the ACPC has to rely on its revolving fund of around P1.2 billion, which consists of its collected funds from terminated directed credit programs.

According to Corpuz, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has been slow in releasing funds for the ACPC as it considers agricultural credit a non-priority.

Despite being low on funds, the ACPC, with the help of the Departments of Agriculture and Environment and Natural Resources, the Climate Change Commission, and the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM) continues to craft a strategic action plan that aims to make agricultural credit more accessible to small farmers and fisherfolks.

The strategic action plan will be the highlight of the Agriculture and Fisheries Credit Summit held yesterday at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.

ACPC has identified five core issues that affect credit.

These are: microfinance for agriculture and other innovative credit delivery mechanism for small farmers and fishers; interest rates on agriculture and fisheries loans; absorptive capacity and bankability of small farmers and fishers; risk management in agriculture and fisheries credit; and, Governance and institutional reforms necessary for improving credit access of farmers and fishers.

The credit summit is a follow up to the Agriculture and Fisheries 2025 Summit held by the COCAFM last February, where the lack of access to agricultural credit came out as a common issue among commodity clusters, including rice, fruits and vegetables, commercial crops, livestock and corn, and fisheries and aquaculture.

 “We are hopeful that with the support of our high-level officials, this strategic action plan that we would come up with would close the P252-billion credit gap in the agricultural sector and increase borrowing among small farmers and fishers from the present estimate of less than 70 percent to 85 percent by 2016,” Corpuz said.