DA offers P100-K loan for women in agriculture

DA explained that the Anyo Program finances agriculture ventures, working capital or fixed asset acquisition by individuals, sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, and cooperatives, whose members are marginal small farmers and fisherfolk. (Pexels photo)

MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) launched on Friday a new credit program exclusive for women in the agriculture industry.

“This is a way to pay tribute to our rural women who we owe our food security to. Despite being our food heroes, they have very limited access to resources including loans,” Executive Director for Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) Jocelyn Alma Badiola said in her speech during the culmination of World Food Day held at DA’s Bureau of Soils and Water Management.

The program, according to Badiola, will provide loans up to PHP100,000 payable in five years.

These loans are approved without requiring any collateral aside from being offered with zero interest, she added.

“This way they can finance capital requirements of their start-up or existing agri-fishery based income generating ([platforms),” she said.

This new credit program is an offshoot of Agriculture Secretary William Dar’s Agri-Negosyo (Anyo).

DA explained that the Anyo Program finances agriculture ventures, working capital or fixed asset acquisition by individuals, sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, and cooperatives, whose members are marginal small farmers and fisherfolk.

The applicants may avail of PHP300,000 up to PHP15 million, with zero interest and payable up to five years.

Other loan programs accessible through DA-ACPC are the Expanded SURE-Aid and Recovery Project or SURE Covid 19, and Kapital Access for Young Agriprenuers (KAYA).

These loans aim to help micro and small enterprises (MSEs), marginal farmers and fishers, and young agripreneurs to venture into agri fishery enterprises, Dar said.

Borrowers must be registered or enrolled in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) or the Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Info System (FFEDIS).

Those who are not registered under the RSBSA shall be required to enroll through the DA Inclusion Protocol of the DA Regional Field Offices or thru the municipal agricultural office.

Eligible loan applicants shall submit all documents as required by the bank and/or lending conduit.

For inquiries and concerns, applicants may reach them via email at surecovidofw@gmail.com or on their mobile number 0961-606-7408(09)(10).