SAN JOSE, Antique, Aug. 12 (PIA) -- Rice farmers in Barbaza, Antique have ventured into palay trading through a holistic package of assistance from government institutions such as the Land Bank of the Philippines, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and Department of Agriculture (DA).
The Barbaza Farmers Irrigators Association, Inc. (BFIA) availed a credit line amounting to P1 million under the Land Bank’s Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP) in 2016, which they used as capital for this business.
The APCP is a joint program of DAR and Land Bank, which seeks to achieve sustainable crop production and increase the earnings of the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and their households by providing credit and capacity building support, said in a press release.
Prior to this, they also received various pre- and post-harvest equipment from DAR and DA, through the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
BFIA president Jose Mario Rico Magtulis lauded the partnership among various government agencies as they are instrumental in extending support to their 708 members, 217 among them are ARBs.
“Dati siyempre NIA lang ang nagbibigay sa amin ng support. 'Nung pumasok sa amin si DAR, nalaman naming yung APCP loan at nakapasok naman kami sa Landbank na naging tulay para makatulong kami sa aming mga members,” Magtulis said in a media statement.
The BFIA top official cited that diversifying their association’s business into palay trading helped their farmers sell their crops at reasonable prices.
Equipped with a mechanical dryer, the palay purchased from farmer-members were turned into rice, and were sold in retail stores or distributed to the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as one of the accredited suppliers of the program in Antique.
At present, BFIA has covered a total of 706 hectares in 12 barangays of the municipality.
Apart from buying the produce of their farmer-members, the association has generated jobs through APCP, hiring 32 additional personnel for their palay trading and irrigation system.
“BFIA is looking at expanding its business by venturing into fertilizers and farm inputs trading to further increase the income of their farmer-members, still with the help of Landbank and other government agencies,” the release said.
Aside from APCP, Land Bank likewise forged ties with DAR to implement the Accessible Funds for Delivery to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (AFFORD-ARBs) program last year. The AFFORD-ARBs program provided loans to finance the production of rice, corn, high-value crops, as well as farm tools.
For queries, log-on to Land Bank’s official website at https://www.landbank.com/ agrarian-operations or visit the nearest Land Bank Lending Center in your town. (LTP/LML-PIA6 Antique)
source https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1050112
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