Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. announced that QUEDANCOR, the government’s credit and guarantee company, has opened is funding cache to the growers of tomatoes and pineapples as the demand for these high value crops is on the rise.
"As the need to enhance the capacity and stretch the extent of its operations gravitates to a broader scope, Quedancor assiduously responds by intensifying its efforts to create greater livelihood and employment opportunities for the marginalized," Lorenzo said.
QUEDANCOR has recently launched its latest financing programs for high value crops in Sarrat, Ilocos Sur and T’boli, South Cotabato. The programs are designed to specifically service the diverse credit requirements of marginalized clientele in the food and agriculture sector nationwide.
According to Quedancor President and CEO Nelson C. Buenaflor, the implementation of the Financing Programs for Tomato Farmers and Pineapple Growers aims to address the financing needs of the growing number of clientele under these commodity-specific financing packages. These programs help usher in adequate credit support in order to achieve a heightened level of productivity in their respective livelihood activities.
The progressive town of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte took the honor as the site of official unveiling of the new program for tomato-farmers. Twenty-one individual farmer-borrowers composing five groups were the first batch of successful borrowers awarded with the cash portion of their loan availments amounting to P50,000 intended for land preparation.
The new credit program, provides purchase orders to the beneficiaries for their subsequent farm input needs. The tomato program targets to serve the credit requirements of 4,000 tomato farmers tilling 1,000 hectares in Ilocos Norte covering the planting season for this year’s fourth quarter.
The launching of the Financing Program for Pineapple Growers successfully kicked off just recently in T’boli, South Cotabato. The municipalities of T’boli and Surallah in South Cotabato are considered two of the best areas in the production of export quality pineapples.
The financing package will fund the credit requisites of pineapple growers who have been identified as top earners in the fruit and vegetable sector particularly in this part of the country. Twenty-one individual farmer-borrowers of hybrid pineapples in South Cotabato were among the initial beneficiaries awarded with loans amounting to P5.2 million worth of purchase orders for their farm input requirements.