The Department of Agriculture (DA) through its Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) has allotted additional fund for lending to backyard and semi-commercial raisers in areas free from the African Swine Fever (ASF) including Western Visayas.

According to DA-6 executive regional director Remelyn Recoter, an additional P300 million will be made available for hog raisers in “green zones”.

The four “green zones” or ASF-free areas are Regions 4-B (MIMAROPA), 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas) and 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).

Dubbed as DA-ACPC “Agri-Negosyo (ANYO) SWINE R3,” the program was virtually launched last Sept. 10 and was headed by Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar.

Eligible borrowers include individual, start-up and existing semi-commercial swine raisers (SCSR), small enterprises, and farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs).

ACPC Jocelyn Alma director Badiola said the loan has zero interest, and payable up to five years.

Individual borrowers can avail of up to P300,000, start-up SCSR up to P1 million, existing SCSR up to P3 million, and small enterprises and FCAs up to P15 million.

DA-6 Regulatory Division chief Dr. Jonic Natividad said the basic requirement for applicants include registration with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

Once they are already registered, they can already apply for loan with the ACPC or in other bank institutions.

Recoter, meanwhile, said an information dissemination about the loan program and how to access will be conducted this week.

“The additional amount will help support our continuing efforts to revive the country’s hog industry,” said Dar.

Last year, the DA-ACPC initially allotted P500 million for lending to backyard raisers and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) under its ANYO program.

As of August 31, 2021, the ACPC has lent P157.18 million to 1,660 small hog farmers and MSEs.

The “OneDA Family” has to date alloted P3 billion to revive the country’s swine industry. It includes the P800-million lending program, P1.2-billion fund for the “Bantay ASF sa Barangay” and P872 M for INSPIRE or Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion program.

INSPIRE is a three-year calibrated hog repopulation program that involves the establishment of breeder multiplier farms, and intensive and modernized production by clustered farms. From 2021 to 2023, the DA targets to produce 440,563 breeders and 10.5 million finishers.

In addition to the P3-billion fund from DA, the Duterte administration through the government’s two main financial institutions — Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) — have alloted a total P42 billion for lending to commercial raisers in ASF-free areas.

Under its “Special Window and Interim Support to Nurture Hog Enterprises” or SWINE lending program, LandBank has approved P295.8 million, as of June 30, 2021, and processing P3.774 billion worth of projects.

For its part, the DBP under its “Swine Rehabilitation, Repopulation and Recovery” or Swine R3 credit program has approved P300 million, as of July 31, 2021, and evaluating P3.6 billion worth of projects.IMT