Agricultural loans grow 7.3% in 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Agricultural loans granted to farmers reached P778.25 billion in 2014, up 7.3 percent year on year.

About 32 percent of the agricultural loans or P246.66 billion at current prices were utilized for production purposes.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), agricultural credit indicators provide information on credit needs of the farmers and fishermen in financing their production activities and the extent of loans provided by the different financial institutions.

“These are important statistical information for planners and policy makers geared towards achieving the development of agricultural sector,” PSA National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Grace S. Bersales said.

Private commercial banks were the biggest provider of loans. However, their share has slowly been decreasing.

Last year, the share of private banks went down to 84.6 percent.  Rural banks came next with a share of 24.2 percent.

The smallest grant of loans came from stock savings and loans associations, which accounted for 6.6 percent of the total agricultural production loans.

Meanwhile, specialized government banks, such as the Land Bank of the Philippines, improved their share to 15.4 percent.

The volume of loans provided by private and government banks increased last year but at a slower rate compared to 2013.

The credit extension of the government banks went up by 11.2 percent as against last year’s 19 percent.

LandBank, being the biggest financing arm of the government, posted a sluggish growth in loan assistance at 11.3 percent compared with 19.23 percent a year ago.

Private banks reported a 6.67-percent gain in their lending portfolio.

Food commodities comprised a bigger share of the total production loans. About 45 percent was utilized for food production. The bulk of loan support went to palay (19.86 percent ) and livestock and poultry (15.2 percent).

Fruits, vegetables and root crops accounted for only 4.3 percent of the total production loans.

Credit financing for the production of export and commercial commodities took a 9.4  percent share.

Sugar cane and coconut accounted for 5.81 percent 2.49 percent of the total credit financing, respectively.