Mr Dar says:
The figure of PhP261
billion is no small amount, and LandBank should be applauded for sustaining the
bank's lending to the agriculture sector.
However, I still dream
of lending to the agriculture sector reaching at least PhP1.5 trillion per year…
Attaining that PhP1.5-trillion figure will definitely need a mobilization of
financial resources from the government, private sector or banks, and bilateral
and multilateral lending institutions.
Me, trillions more for loans, yes: I wish LandBank packages
a lending program for “Cooperatives Operating
for People’s Economics & Environment (COPE2)” – my
brainchild. Note that COPE2 is for cooperatives to work for their
farmer members as well as for the environment. COPE2 is for
cooperatives to achieve economies of scale for its members as they go on with
their agriculture to solve Farmer Poverty and resolve Climate Change. I have
yet to read of any LandBank-supported program or project that addresses
directly Farmer Poverty even while it aids
all of agriculture in confronting Climate
Change.
LandBank’s
HEAL is the program to “Help via Emergency Loan Assistance for LGUs”; my COPE2
is designed not only to HEAL the communities sick of poverty but simultaneously
to heal the land sick of Climate Change!
(“HEAL” from facebook.com)
I am thinking of COPE2 implementing regenerative
agriculture (RA) to which Mr Dar himself subscribes (see his 2022 column, “It’s Time To Consider Regenerative
Agriculture,” Manila Times, manilatimes.net).
2 years earlier, he said during the 69th anniversary of the Bureau
of Soils & Water Management (BSWM) (Ellalyn
de Vera-Ruiz, 08 June 2020, “Dar Urges Reinvention, Adaptation To ‘New
Normal’,” Manila Bulletin, mb.com.ph):
Reinvention needs a
lot of courage to… focus on four major areas: soils, water, farming systems,
and policy advocacy..,
The DA chief also
highlighted the development of new researches focusing on soil health and
sustainable agriculture with regenerative agriculture.
Yes, I am calling for “reinvention” of government lending to
farmers who are made aware and required to practice non-chemical agriculture.
“Sulong Saka” (“Advancing Agriculture,” my translation) is
for increasing production of farm produce – but not healing the land
from being environmentally sick, ill from greenhouse gases. “(Chemical) Agriculture
(contributed) 10% of 2021 greenhouse gas emissions” (EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency,
epa.gov).
About the “Sulong Saka,” LandBank itself says (landbank.com):
The Sulong Saka
Program aims to provide credit assistance to farmers cultivating high-value
crops … and support their production, processing, marketing and other
agribusiness projects.
I say LandBank needs to help
PH Agriculture more than “Sulong Saka” and “HEAL” – it needs to fund the fight
against Farmer Poverty and Climate Change!@517
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