CLARK FREEPORT ZONE – In an effort to contribute to food security by lessening if not totally eliminating the existing market’s dependence on imported meat, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has launched at the Holiday Inn here last Friday its agribusiness loan program.
BPI EVP and Corporate Banking Group head Alfonso “Yogi” Salcedo Jr. presented an overview of the program designed to benefit livestock raisers in Central and Northern Luzon, as well as expanding business corridors in Mindanao like the cities of Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental, General Santos in South Cotabato, and Davao.
Through its BPI Agribusiness Solutions, the bank has created a program that would support poultry raisers, hog farmers and entrepreneurs and small companies engaged in cattle fattening.
Senior VP Reymundo SL Castro tackled “BPI Sustainable Energy Finance,” which showed that agribusiness companies could use farm waste as an energy source and thus reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.
Vincent Borromeo of Genus Pig Improvement Co. (Genus PIC) discussed “World-class Pig Production in the Philippines” giving highlight on the modern technology needed for a world-class facility on livestock production and poultry management.
”THE agriculture sector is highly important for the Philippines as it promotes food security. Agriculture promises to be the key to alleviate poverty among millions of Filipinos who depend on farming and livestock-raising.
A stronger agriculture sector is needed to sustain growth and food sufficiency,” Salcedo said.
He stressed that a strong participation in agribusiness development is part of BPI’s corporate social responsibility which could put a dent in gross importation and contribute to food security.
What compelled BPI to launch its agribusiness campaign this year is its strong belief that the Philippines will be a big player in the livestock industry in Southeast Asia.
Castro said that the country is free of the food-and-mouth disease that has been the bane of cattle raisers in the region.
Moreover, the Philippine poultry industry has been free from the bird-flu virus that has decimated the stocks of chicken and duck raisers in mainland Asia, he added.
Meanwhile, assistant vice president Pearl Padilla said, “BPI Agribusiness Solutions currently lends to piggery, poultry and other agri-related businesses like fish production, fruits, vegetable and crop production, post-harvest operations and food processing, agricultural trading and sustainable/renewable-energy financing.”
She also said agriculture has contributed 12.3 percent or P11.9 billion of the country’s gross domestic product in 2011. The labor force in agriculture is 13 million, or 35 percent out of the total labor force of 37 million.
“Considering that both pork and poultry products are top staple foods after rice and fish, there is a projected 10-percent increase in demand for pork and about a 4-percent increase for chicken in 2013,” she noted.
For this year, BPI will unveil two agri-products. The first, “BPI Agribusiness Solutions Commercial Hog Breeding and Fattening,” involves the partnership between BPI and the Pig Improvement Co. (PIC) as the technology provider and breed supplier for prospective clients.
The PIC targets to expand its sow level from 120,000 to 180,000, a 60,000 sow-level increase representing a 30-percent share of the total sow level population.
The second, “BPI Agribusiness Solutions Poultry Contract Growing/Commercial Broiler Operations,” entails financing qualified/prospective poultry contract growers of San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI), which is bidding to increase its bird population by 5 million in 2013. Other integrators such as Bounty Fresh and other commercial poultry integrators will also be tapped, depending on their expansion plans.
Salcedo said BPI is venturing into agriculture in consonance with the Agri-Agra Law, which mandates banks to apportion 20 percent of its total loan portfolio for agri-agra loans.
“If banks are unable to meet this ratio, they will be penalized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. BPI, like all other major banks, gets penalized every now and then. BPI would therefore like to ensure full compliance to this law from 2013 onward through the BPI Agribusiness Solutions,” Salcedo explained.
Middle-market companies, or those valued between P15 million and P100 million, are also qualified to benefit from BPI Agribusiness Solutions, along with clients not engaged in agribusiness but are willing to venture into it.
Existing BPI Preferred or High Value clients engaged in the agri/agra or related businesses like piggery, poultry, feed mill, slaughter house, chicken dressing, meat shop, rice mill, corn mill, fisheries, fruit, vegetable and crop production, and agricultural trading are welcome to join, according to Salcedo.
