Farmers and fishermen affected by calamities can soon avail of interest- and collateral-free loans under the government’s P1-billion financial package to get back on their feet.
The President has agreed to set aside the huge funds to boost the Department of Agriculture’s emergency survival and recovery loan program during a meeting with concerned officials in Malacañang last Monday.
“President Rody Duterte pledged a P1-billion fund for the Department of Agriculture’s Survival and Recovery Loan Program for farmers and fisherfolks affected by natural calamities,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a Facebook post.
“The President made the surprise announcement during the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) en banc meeting in Malacañang,” he added.
Under the proposed emergency loan program, the government can provide P15,000 for food and subsistence loan to farmers and fishermen to recover from the calamities such typhoons, floods, landslides, infestations, fire and drought.
Another R20,000 worth of loan could also be given to typhoon-affected farmers and fishermen for the purchase of fertilizers and farm inputs to help them recover.
“The loan is interest and collateral free and payable in three years,” Piñol said.
Piñol said he raised the SURE (Survival and Recovery) loan program during the NAPC meeting when the President asked for an update on the department’s anti-poverty programs and food production initiatives.
“Towards the end of my report, I mentioned the SURE Loan Program which I asked the Agriculture Credit Policy Council (ACPC) to design following a visit I made to the flood stricken provinces in Mindanao,” he said.
The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) is expected to meet this week to further discuss the loan program.
(G. Kabiling)