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| Dumangas, Iloilo. Photo courtesy of SEAFDEC |
The Production Loan Easy Access Program has been made available to the Municipality of Dumangas and Passi City as part of the efforts of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in further spurring the development of agriculture in these localities.
A Php30 million loan fund and Php10million loan fund for Dumangas and Passi City respectively will be made available for farmers and fishermen for the localities of Iloilo is expected wherein farmers and fishermen will be able to get financing amounting to Phpo5,000 to Php25,000 with no collateral requirements and will have a payable term of two years.
According to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol, the lending program will be available through local cooperatives and rural banks and the maturity will depend on the kind of agricultural commodity.
This will reduce the dependency of farmers on government subsidies and dole outs, and contribute to the administration’s target of reducing national poverty by the year 2022.
A grains processing complex for the milling, packaging, and marketing of Passi City’s produce, as well as a tissue culture laboratory and organic fertilizer processing facility, is also planned by the DA.
In Dumangas , 500 hectares of abandoned fishponds wll be converted into mangrove replanting areas that will benefit one of the richest oyster production areas of Panay Island. Protection of to fishponds, oyster farms and hatcheries is being backed by the DA to protect it against the construction of an environmentally and ecologically unsafe fuel depot in Dumangas.
“I already signed an endorsement of the BFAR position paper to Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor. While the town is interested in inviting investors to come to the town, we should respect the position of the people who depend on the sea for their livelihood,” DA Secretary Pinol stated.
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