Vol. XXII, No. 30 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Friday, September 5, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
A BILL which seeks to allow farmer-beneficiaries to use lands awarded to them as collateral for loans from banks and other financial institutions has been filed in the House of Representatives.
House Bill (HB) 2707 seeks to amend sections 27 and 71 of Republic Act 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1998, by lifting the restriction on the rights of farmer-beneficiaries to mortgage the lands awarded to them and allowing them to submit their certificates of land ownership as sufficient collateral for bank loans.
Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado M. Arroyo (1st district), vice-chairman of the House committee on agriculture and food, said that the country’s experience in the implementation of the agrarian reform law has shown that insufficient funding has disuaded farmers from working to make their lands productive.
"The government has tried to address the problem by making credit more accessible through microfinancing and other schemes, but credit extended to farmer-beneficiaries under these programs are short-term and limited and, thus, unable to sustain farmers’ pressing credit requirements," he said in a statement.
Sustained productivity
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser C. Pangandaman said in a phone interview yesterday that: "We support the billwhat farmers need is credit access. Once farmers have access to credit, it is expected that more lands would have sustained productivity."
He noted that 70% of the department’s annual budget goes to land acquisition and distribution; 20% to support services such as funding for post-harvest facilities, road-to-market projects and cooperatives; and 10% to adjudication of agrarian cases.
Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio T. Arroyo (5th district) said that the measure, if approved, should help raise agricultural production.
"[Before,] agricultural lands cannot be accepted as payment to banks. With the passage of the bill, farmers would be able to obtain capital they can use to till their own soil, thereby increasing agricultural productivity," he said in a separate phone interview. — Jhoanna Frances S. Valdez
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