“Maglulunsad ang Department of Agriculture sa Malimono, Surigao del Norte ng isang pambihirang programa na sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon ay magpapautang sa mga magsasaka nang walang collateral, six percent interest at walang maraming papeles na pipirmahan,” he said.
He guaranteed that the loan will be released in not more than five days from date of application. The fund for the project will be placed in a credit cooperative or rural bank near the area of the farmers.
The loan applicant will only show an identification card that the DA will issue. The ID called Farmer’s Intervention Monitoring Card will not only indicate the farmer’s personal data but also the place where the land he tills is located.
“Parang credit card ang ID na pwedeng mangutang ang ordinaryong magsasaka ng P10,000 hanggang P50,000 nang walang collateral. Yan ang concept ng programang ito,” Pinol said.
He said that he personally designed the program being a farmer and a son and grandson of farmers.
The secretary surprised local officials led by Gov. Albert Garcia and his big audience of fisherfolk and farmers when he announced that he was committing P100 million from the project for Bataan.
“I will ask President Duterte to support the program nationwide to further increase the production of rice in the country,” he said.
Pinol was in Mariveles and led in the groundbreaking in Barangay Batangas Dos of a P21.7-million ice plant and cold storage under the DA’s Philippine Rural Development Project.
Kaizen Multi-Purpose Cooperative composed of 160 members, mostly women, will operate the project that is expected to produce 100 blocks of ice per day and has storage capacity of 5 metric tons or 384 boxes of fish at a time.
