The Department of Agriculture (DA), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), and the Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) Philippines Corporation are preparing a collaborative project that will benefit the local livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries.
During a meeting on January 25, 2023, DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban instructed concerned DA offices to work closely with the DBP and CPF in formulating an expanded financing program to assist stakeholders in identified priority areas nationwide.
Through the program, small farmers and fisherfolk, organized or clustered farmers’ and fisherfolk’s cooperatives and associations (FCAs), and medium- and large-scale enterprises will be able to avail financing, marketing, and technical assistance to improve their production.
The DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the DA-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) will standardize the documentary requirements with the DBP, CPF, and the concerned local government unit (LGU) to streamline the application and approval.
Undersecretary Panganiban also directed the DA offices to determine the program’s target number of beneficiaries, investment requirements, and areas for expansion.
During the meeting, CPF Philippines President Udomsak Aksornphakdee and his team presented the company’s business models for hogs, poultry, and aquaculture, their contract farming projects, and technologies for biosecurity.
DBP Assistant Vice President Rallen Verdadero expressed support to the new program and shared that the DBP is doing a digital transformation on how they will evaluate agriculture and fisheries projects.
DA-BAI Director Paul Limson, DA-BFAR Assistant Director for Administrative Services Zaldy Perez, and DA-ACPC Director for Program Development and Institutional Capacity Building Ma. Cristina Lopez also discussed the challenges and opportunities for the program to benefit the sector.
In 2021, the DA, DBP, and the Thailand-based agro-industrial and food conglomerate partnered in launching the Swine Rehabilitation, Repopulation and Recovery Credit (Swine R3) program in support of the government’s effort to revive the local hog industry. ### (Gumamela Bejarin, DA-AFID)
