Agritech startup Agrilever vowed to help the country’s agricultural sector boost productivity and improve resiliency by empowering small Filipino rice farmers with technological resources and farming essentials.
Agrilever said every farmer deserves access to technological resources and farming essentials such as fertilizers and financing that can help them thrive, improve their livelihood and secure their family’s future.
With the help of Agrilever, rice farmers in the countryside gained access to financial institutions to get the credit they needed to finance their farming.
“By bridging the gap between farmers and financial institutions, we are not only empowering them with better resources but also ensuring a more resilient and productive agricultural sector,” said Agrilever chief executive Ruel Amparo.
According to the World Bank, two out of three Filipino farmers are uninsured. The Philippine agricultural sector received only 2.6 percent of the country’s total loans outstanding in the banking sector in 2022, despite representing 8.9 percent of the GDP and almost one-quarter of the nation’s total employment.
Informal lenders charged them up to 10-percent monthly interest, which eats up their income from their produce.
Agrilever acts as an intermediary that manages the relationship between banks or credit providers and rice farmers. It helps ensure that farmers pay their loans by providing them with the technology, on-the-ground help, and fertilizers that they need to have a more productive harvest.
“We hope to reach rice farmers nationwide and provide them with the financial tools, fertilizers, and weather analytics they need to navigate climate challenges and boost their yields. The more farmers we empower, the stronger our entire agricultural economy becomes,” Amparo said.
Agrilever has partnerships with banks and government-run institutions that provide loans to rice farmers such as the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC) and New Rural Bank of San Leonardo.
BPI Direct BanKo Inc., the financial inclusion and microfinance arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, teamed up with Agrilever to launch the Agri NegosyoKo Loan Program last year. The program aims to help farmers strengthen their agricultural practices and improve their livelihoods.
, Agrilever also launched its own app for farmers, a platform that provides crop management protocols and advanced weather intelligence.
The technology-based information is vital to allow them to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events and rising temperatures on their crops.