ILOILO – A group of hog raisers in Western Visayas is thankful to the Department of Agriculture (DA) for its continued help to their sector.
This, after backyard and semi-commercial raisers in Western Visayas may soon avail themselves of the DA’s new loan program through its Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC).
Elma Peña, president of the Sibalom Integrated Livestock and Poultry Raisers Association (SILPRA) in Antique, said this is a big help to them especially now that the price of liveweight of hogs per kilo declined to P105 from as much as P170 in the past months.
“Thank you, DA for this loan program. Ang concern lang ang sobra ka nubo nga presyo sang liveweight. Subong P105 (per kilo). Kon magdugang kami sagod kay may kapital kami kon mag-loan, kikita pa ba kami?” she asked.
DA allotted P300 million for lending to hog raisers in the country’s “green zones” or areas free from African Swine Fever (ASF) like Region 6.
Peña said their association will have a board meeting today to discuss about the loan program.
Currently, the group has a total of 436 hog raiser members not only from Sibalom but also from nearby municipalities.
Peña noted that more hog raisers signified their intention to join their group.
According to Executive Director Remelyn Recoter of DA-6, local hog raisers would be guided on how to avail themselves of the program dubbed Agri-Negosyo (ANYO) SWINE R3.
Agriculture secretary William Dar said the amount will boost the country’s hog industry.
Aside from Region 6, the P300 million will also help finance swine projects in regions 4-B (MIMAROPA), 7 (Central Visayas) and 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).
To avail of the program, hog raisers must register with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), an electronic compilation of basic information on farmers, farm laborers and fishers, according to Dr. Jonic Natividad, chief of DA-6 Regulatory Division.
They should also register with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC).
“Then that’s the time maka-process sila sang ila mga required loan especially sa ACPC. There are also bank institutions like LANDBANK that is now catering loans from other provinces in the region,” Natividad added.
Eligible borrowers include individual, start-up and existing semi-commercial swine raisers (SCSR), small enterprises and farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs).
Individual borrowers can avail themselves of up to P300,000; start-up SCSR up to P1 million; existing SCSR up to P3 million; and small enterprises and FCAs up to P15 million.
The loan has zero interest, and payable up to five years, said ACPC director Jocelyn Alma Badiola.
Last year, the DA-ACPC initially allotted P500 million for lending to backyard raisers and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) under its ANYO program.
As of Aug. 31 this year, the ACPC lent P157.18 million to 1,660 small hog farmers and MSEs.
Dar said the DA has to date allotted P3-billion boost to the country’s swine industry. It included the P800-million lending program, P1.2-billion fund for the “Bantay ASF sa Barangay” and P872 million for INSPIRE, or Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion program./PN
