FARMER-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program stand to benefit from the P10-billion lending program of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), according to Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III.
Estrella said agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and the whole agriculture value-chain would benefit from the P10-billion fund under the LandBank AgriSenso Lending Program to bolster food security and sufficiency nationwide.
AgriSenso was created in collaboration with multiple government agencies, particularly the LBP, the Department of Agriculture, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council and the National Irrigation Administration.
“All these agencies promote cluster farming which are run by cooperatives and associations of farmers,” Estrella said.
Under the whole-of-government approach, the Department of Agrarian Reform, in coordination with these agencies, fully commits to support the farmer-beneficiaries who are members of various ARB organizations nationwide.
According to LBP executive vice president Alex Lorayes, the P10-billion fund aims to provide affordable financing to the beneficiaries and the whole agriculture value-chain with only seven percent interest per annum.
“LandBank eyes at least 5,000 AgriSenso borrowers with an initial total amount of P500 million under LandBank’s new lending program,” he said.
