DA: Rice farmers can avail of P15K loan assistance

MANILA, Philippines — Rice farmers can now avail of a P15,000 loan assistance from government after the drop in local palay prices as an effect of the Rice Tariffication law.

Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Tuesday said rice farmers who wish to avail of the said loan assistance only have to register their names with the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank).

Dar said that the process of application for its Survival and Recovery (SURE) aid program only takes three hours to finish. The loan can be repaid in eight years at zero interest.

“Yung sure aid program this is coming from the Department of Agriculture with the Agriculture Credit Policy Council at binigay po natin yung pondo sa Landbank at sila po yung magma-manage at mag-implementa,” Dar said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990 AM.

“Ito po ay loan assistance sa mga farmers na nagsasaka ng isang hektarya pababa at P15,000 ang kada farmer at zero interest at babayaran ng walong taon, so magandang tulong po ito,” he added.

Rice farmers can use the P15,000 loan assistance in any way they want.

The loan assistance budget allotted by the DA amounts to P1.5 billion.

Since the passage of the Rice Tariffication law, the domestic market has been flooded with more affordable imported rice that led to the drop of palay prices in the country.

As of the fourth week of July, the average buying price of palay was at P17.76 a kilo, down 18.6 percent from a year ago.  /muf

READ: P1.5-B loan fund for rice farmers set