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THE
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has forged ties with
the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Natcco) to
provide agrarian-reform beneficiaries easy access to
credit, considered the key to the successful
implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program.
Agrarian
Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said he is hopeful
that the financial services to be provided as a result
of the tie-up between DAR and Natcco would finally
address the problems that are besetting every
farmer-beneficiary nationwide.
Pangandaman observed the lack of access to credit
remains a major problem among farmer-beneficiaries, many
of whom are forced to go to loan sharks who usually
charge excessive interest rates.
“This is
a significant headway in our effort to reaching out to
our farmer-beneficiaries and helping them seek financial
assistance at better terms,” Pangandaman said shortly
after the signing of the memorandum of agreement between
him and Natcco president and chief executive officer
Cresente Paez.
“Our
models are geared toward creating poverty-free
agrarian-reform communities [ARCs] by rehabilitating
farmers’ cooperatives into viable intermediaries called
‘microfinance innovations in cooperatives [MICOOP],’
which are capable of providing bank-like financial
services specifically to farmer-beneficiaries,” Paez
said.
Paez
said the MICOOP provides multifinancial services such as
loans for farm inputs, housing for repair, educational
and health needs, among others.
Under
the six-page agreement, the Natcco will provide several
capacity-building interventions. Besides establishing
MICOOP models in ARCs, it is also responsible for
enhancing the technical skills of staff for good
governance and administration, and keep accurate,
systematic and orderly records of all activities and
transactions, among others.
The
Natcco will also allot an initial loan fund of P5
million for the setting up of five ARC MICOOP models.
For its
part, DAR, through the World Bank-Agrarian Reform
Communities Development Project II, will provide a
P5-million fund to Natcco for the establishment of said
ARC MICOOP models in Mulanay, Quezon; San Jose,
Occidental Mindoro; Cataingan, Masbate; Tiwi, Albay; and
Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
DAR got
interested in the MICOOP because of the satisfactory
results of its five previous models that were
established in five ARCs under Agrisol in May this year:
the Esperanza Multipurpose Cooperative in Roxas, Isabela;
the Buenavista MPC in Buenavista, Quezon; the Bonbonon
MPC in Siaton, Negros Oriental; the Bantolinao MPC in
Antiquera, Bohol; and the La Libertad MPC in La
Libertad, Zamboanga del Norte. |
