House to pass P5-B fund for agri credit

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor hailed Speaker Jose de Venecia’s assurance of the approval of a bill on the P5-billion guarantee fund for the enhancement and more widespread availability of agricultural credit.

"This development will further boost the Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s productivity program in the agricultural sector in support of palay harvest poised to hit 13.11 metric tons which is 1.2 percent higher than last year's 12.95 million metric tons," Montemayor said.

In its own, the Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Quedan and Rural Credit Corp. (Quedancor) and the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), has provided financing assistance to the agricultural sector.

Quedancor has provided some P1.123 billion in loans to approximately 50,224 individual beneficiaries and groups in the first nine months of the year. On the other hand, for ACPC the current total loanable funds of the banking sector have reached P889 billion, 25 percent of which in the amount of P224.4 billion is reserved for agriculture and agrarian reform sectors.

De Venecia explained that the creation of the fund is embodied in the proposed Enhanced Collateral Value of Farm Lands Act of 2002. This bill has been approved jointly by House Committee on Agrarian Reform chaired by Rep. Gregorio Ipong and the Committee on banks and intermediaries headed by Rep. Jaime Lopez.

The fund will provide farmers greater access to rural credit. Beneficiaries can even mortgage their rights to partially paid lands acquired under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP); this is prohibited under the current CARP law.

The review of the 10-year period of non-transferability for awarded lands is necessary. Under the law, the prohibition on the sale, transfer or conveyance of lands acquired by beneficiaries needs to undergo evaluation. This appraisal is designed to determine if the period is advantageous to the farmer considering his ability to make optimal use of his land.

The review may be conducted by an independent body of experts to be tapped by the ACPC.

"The DA would encourage the CARP beneficiaries to hold on to their lands, as this is the intention of the agrarian reform law. With their need for credit assistance, however, a shorter time for this prohibition would enhance the collaterability of the lands," the DA secretary said in his letter to the House of Representatives.