STATE-RUN Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) disclosed that its loans to its priority sectors, which include farmers and fisherfolk, grew by almost 30 percent to P160.8 billion from January to March.

LandBank president and chief executive officer Gilda E. Pico noted that the bank’s loans to priority sectors comprised 68 percent of the bank’s total regular loan portfolio, or P236.6 billion.

“The sustained improvement in the bank’s loan portfolio for its priority sectors attests to our commitment to intensify support to key players and partners in countryside development,” said Pico in a statement.

Figures from LandBank showed that its outstanding loans to small farmers and fisherfolk grew to P21.3 billion as of the first quarter from P16.9 billion in the same period last year.

Loans for agribusiness went up to P23.4 billion from P20.1 billion last year, while loans for micro enterprises and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) increased by P2.4 billion to P21.5 billion.

The bank released P6.2 billion in loans to small farmers and fisher-folk from January to March 2011. This reached more than 174,000 small farmers and fisherfolk nationwide.

The amount is 31 percent higher than the P4.7 billion released during the same period last year. The loans were channeled through 523 farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives and 185 countryside financial institutions.

The priority sectors of LandBank are small farmers and fisherfolk, microenterprises and SMEs, livelihood, agribusiness, agri-infrastructure, agri-related projects, environment-related projects, socialized housing, schools and hospitals.

Earlier, the bank declared that it is targeting the release of P7 billion to boost a government program aimed at improving food supply this year.

The bank has so far released P1.97 billion to finance projects under the Food Supply Chain Program. The program is meant to boost food supply by improving the technical capability of and market access for farmers and other food producers.