REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL CREDIT POLICY COUNCIL

28th Floor, One San Miguel Ave., Bldg., San Miguel Ave., Pasig City, PHILIPPINEES Tel. No. (632) 634-3326; 634-3320 to 21 Fax No. (632) 634-3319

Dashiel Indelible, co-director of the Upland Development Program, facilitates the MOA-signing on joint management of forest zones among the barangay officials, the municipal mayor and the governor of Malapatan, Saranggani.       DA, EU Extend UDP’s Rural Finance Program in Southern Mindanao The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the European Commission (EC) have agreed to extend a program providing credit and capability building services to farmer and/or fisherfolk-owned financial institutions and program partners serving the credit needs for livelihood and business projects of upland subsistence farmers, indigenous people, women’s groups, youth cooperatives and people’s organizations in upland areas of Southern Mindanao. DA Secretary Arthur C. Yap signed DA-Administrative Order (AO) No. 27 mandating the operationalization of the Upland Southern Mindanao Capability and Institution Building Program (USM-CIBP) and the creation of a program trust fund. The fund will be used for rural finance services, particularly credit and institution-building, for target beneficiaries in rural upland areas of the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Sarangani, and South Cotabato. The USM-CIBP is the successor program of the Upland Development Programme for Southern Mindanao (UDP), which was co-funded by the European Union (EU). Launched in 1999, the UDP was created in response to the need for sustainable development in priority upland areas in Mindanao. The seven-year program was jointly administered by the EC and the DA until its formal closure on July 31, 2007. Implementation of the USM-CIBP shall be overseen by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), an agency attached to the DA. Headed by Executive Director Jovita M. Corpuz, ACPC actively took part in the negotiations to extend the rural finance component of the UDP. DA-AO No. 27 designates ACPC to be the program’s fund manager. Given its mandate, ACPC is working to fast-track activities for the immediate establishment of the program trust fund. Negotiations are presently underway between the DA, through ACPC, and the Land Bank of the Philippines for the continuation of the Bank’s service delivery to the beneficiary cooperatives previously assisted/organized by UDP. The 28 cooperatives of the program have a combined credit outreach of no less than 5,000 upland farmers/beneficiaries. The USM-CIBP is the second successor project funded by the EU to be managed by the ACPC. The first one was the spin-off project of the Central Cordillera Agricultural Program (CECAP), an agricultural development program for Central Cordillera.

ACPC Programs AMCFP Financing assistance to farmers, fisherfolk, urban and rural poor who have projects in palay, corn, soybeans, high-value crops, poulty, livestock, or fisheries. ICB Assists Farmers’ and Fisherfolk’s Organizations in improving their capacities for delivering financial services. RHBF Financing to rural households for farm diversification and off-farm/non-farm micro-enterprises through rural financial institutions.

 ACPC allots P47.3 M to Fisheries Financing Program

As part of Department of Agriculture’s (DA) drive to expand agriculture and fisheries financing activities, Secretary Arthur C. Yap, and the other Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) members recently signed ACPC Resolution 31-02, Series of 2007, creating and funding the Fisheries Financing Program (FFP).

To be implemented on a pilot basis by the ACPC, in cooperation with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), through the Land Bank of the Philippines and private financing institutions, the FFP will be initially funded with some P47.3 M from the Agro-Industry Modernization Credit and Financing Program (AMCFP), the umbrella credit scheme for agriculture and fisheries managed by the ACPC.

Aimed at generating more jobs and higher incomes for fishing households through an accessible and sustainable credit scheme, the FFP is DA-ACPC’s response to the fishery sector’s huge credit requirement and the utter lack of financing facilities for the sector, particularly the poor and small fishers.

Using a holistic approach, the program will provide a complete range of interventions, including credit, institutional capacity building and technical and marketing support. A credit fund will be put up for lending to fishery projects in priority areas, to be managed by the Land Bank and coursed through conduits.

Initial discussions have so far identified three conduit types. These are: Type 1, accredited by the Land Bank and have passed the Risk Asset Acceptance Criteria (RAAC); Type 2, Land Bank accredited, but have not yet passed the RAAC; and Type 3, those not yet accredited by Land Bank but are vital in delivering DA-required services. The ACPC and the Land Bank will come up with a risk sharing arrangement based on these conduit types.

To help these conduits earn full Land Bank accreditation, ACPC will also establish an Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) Fund that would provide training for conduits’ officers and staff on implementing fishery credit projects, as well as entrepreneurship training for end-borrowers.

BFAR will provide program clients with technical assistance and market linkages to ensure proper application of technologies and reliable marketing of products.

The FFP’s priority clientele are poor fisherfolk families and organizations in the priority provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Sorsogon, Samar, Leyte and Zamboanga Sibugay.

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