PBBM launches 'puhunan' program for farmers

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. launched in Guimba, Nueva Ecija a program providing rice farmers with low-cost credit, financial assistance, and a ready market for their crops.

For the dry cropping season (2024-2025), the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid (APP) program, under the Department of Agriculture (DA), will offer credit facilities to 50,000 hectares of rice farmers and cooperatives starting from those established under the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)  in the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems, Magat River Integrated Irrigation System, and NIA systems serving the Cordillera Administrative Region.

In addition, Marcos revealed that the DA and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBM) have secured the initial P3 billion in funding for low-interest loans and subsistence allowances for farmers. 

“We will provide our farmers with the financial resources needed to pursue their vocation,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said. 

“This initiative will extend credit to farmers for seeds and other inputs, crop insurance, subsistence allowance until harvest, and ensure a ready market with the National Food Authority and the Department of Social Welfare and Development for a predetermined volume and income,”  he added.

In a statement, the DA said it has signed agreements with Planters Products Inc. and the DBP for the implementation of the program. The Agriculture chief expressed hope of it becoming a self-sustaining initiative, maximizing the potential of the farming sector. 

“We are hopeful that this initiative will be a game-changer for the sector and those who depend on farming,”  Laurel added.

Under the APP program, enhanced credit facilities will be offered to those farmers already holding intervention monitoring cards used to purchase seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and ameliorants and to pay for services through PPI-accredited merchants.

“For instance, a beneficiary of the APP program who plants rice on one hectare of land will receive a net amount of P58,000, covering production costs—inputs, land preparation, and hauling, including a subsistence allowance of P32,000, which will be given P8,000.00 monthly for four (4) months to the beneficiary farmer and shall be covered with crop insurance,” the DA said.

“The APP proceeds will complement the government subsidies for inputs, services, and insurance with an approximate amount of P14,500 per hectare.  Additionally, the credit conduit may execute a forward contract agreement,” it added.

On the DA's initial estimation,  a net income of P65,000 per cropping period may be earned by a farmer based on five metric tons per hectare, inclusive of a P32,000 subsistence allowance.