DavSur ARBs get P2.4M loan for sugar cane production

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, May 22 (PIA) – The agrarian reform beneficiaries from two people’s organizations in the province have recently been enlisted as recipients to a P2.4 million loan from Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for sugar cane production.

Set to benefit from the program are 44 ARBs who will be the first batch in the region to avail of the loan through LBP’s Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP).

The farmers are members of agrarian reform beneficiaries organization (ARBOs) namely:  the Pasig ARBs and Upland Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (PARBUFMPC) and Cogon Bacaca ARS Multi-Purpose Cooperative (COBARBEMPCO), both of Kiblawan town.

Atty. Juan Cho Calud, Davao del Sur’s Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer, said the loan will be used to finance 41 hectares sugarcane production inside the Agrarian Reform Community in Kiblawan.

Calud said the ARC is one of the identified sites for the Agrarian Reform Community and Connectivity Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) targeted for sugarcane block farming.

Department of Agrarian Reform regional director John Maruhom said the loan package targets to bring about sixty percent increase in sugarcane production from 50 to 75 tons per hectare in the targeted sites.

Maruhom explained that the APCP is a vehicle through which the appropriate financial and technical services will be availed by ARBS as this is specially tailored for ARBOs that do not yet qualify under the LBP’s regular lending window and the Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD).

DAR and LBP together with the Department of Agriculture (DA) have pooled resources and expertise to help ARBs in terms of providing credit at affordable cost, development assistance and marketing support.

A loan agreement under the APCP was signed between COBARBEMCO and PARBUFMPC respectively represented by Raymundo Daub Sr. and Josephine Barsalote, LBP Lending Center headed by Charlotte Conde, DAR-XI regional director Maruhom and DA-XI regional director Renelyn R. Recoter. (DAR DavSur/Yadz Geyrozaga)