Quedancor sets P5.7-B loan, guarantee portfolio for 2005

Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) is targeting to lend and guarantee this year a total of P5.7 billion, a dramatic leap from the P4.6 billion in actual loans and guarantees extended from January to November 2004.

Quedancor president and chief executive officer Nelson C. Buenaflor reported to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the bulk of this year’s releases would be in loans of P5.3 billion and the balance in guarantees.

Buenaflor said for January to October 2004, his agency was able to recover P283.04 million in arrears and past due loans mostly from the disposal of non performing assets.

He cited the corporation’s creditable performance from January to November with total loans increasing by 107 percent from the previous year’s, and guarantee releases hitting 110 percent, vis a vis the target of P4.2 billion for the period.

A total of 293,579 farmers, fisherfolk, retailers, millers and other entrepreneurs benefited from Quedancor’s various lending programs.

One such program was the swine credit facility – aimed at restocking the country’s piggery farms and attaining sufficiency in pork – which as of November hit P574 million in disbursements versus target of P500 million targeted for the year, Buenaflor said.

The Quedancor-San Miguel Corp. program for corn, cassava, sorghum and soybean was launched to boost the country’s production of feed ingredients – to substitute or the imported corn and soybeans – which were given to farmers in Maramag, Bukidnon and South Cotabato covering 301 hectares of corn farms.

The company also forged partnership with the Cooperative Development Authority through the Cooperative Lending Program, which aims to finance viable projects of cooperatives and their businesses. At present, Quedancor is processing P109 million worth of loan applications through its regional/district offices.

It also heeded President Arroyo’s 10-point agenda by conceptualizing the "10-10 Investment Blue Print for Agribusiness Lands and Employment Generation" which intends to generate P50 billion in investments and creation of three million jobs in six years.

The 10 priority commodities are poultry, oil palm, banana, swine, seaweeds, corn and other feedgrains, coconut by-products, fisheries, ruminants, and support infrastructure which are considered highly profitable and export-bound products.

Along this line, Quedancor launched its programs on seaweeds, banana, oil palm and production of grouper and lobster in cages and poultry using the latest tunnel ventilation technology, Buenaflor said.

The agency also tapped the services of the SEAMEO Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture to conduct a training for Self Reliant Team (SRT) leaders held last March to June 2004 in the areas of NCR, Ilocos Region, Bicol Region, Western Visayas and Region X. A total of 158 SRT leaders participated in said training.

Buenaflor also reported that Quedancor hosted the 24th Food and Agriculture Organization/ Association of Food Marketing Agencies (FAO/AFMA) executive committee meeting which was attended by 12 member countries at the Bayview Hotel last Nov. 29 to Dec.3, 2004.