DBP has launched a program that seeks to further promote agribusinesses in the countryside by providing lending assistance to the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors.

DBP president & chief executive officer Francisco F. Del Rosario, Jr. said the Agribusiness Development Program (ADP) is expected to boost funding support to agri-agra projects in compliance with the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009. 

“We will allocate an initial amount of P5-billion to provide agri-based entrepreneurs access to loans in the transformation of farmlands and idle lands including DAR’s distributed agri-lands into agribusiness enterprises,” Del Rosario said.  He added that the program also seeks to develop high value commercial crops and promote organic agriculture.  The ADP is in support of the National Convergence Initiative Program of the departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, and Environment and Natural Resources.

The ADP has pipeline projects amounting to P2.6-billion.  Eligible for funding are all agribusiness projects including but not limited to priority crops under the DBP High Value Commercial Crops and Organic Agriculture Programs, from production, post-harvest, agri-processing to market or the whole value chain. 

Also eligible for financing are poultry and livestock, investments in bio-fuel feedstock projects, and production of organic products or the whole value chain.

The facility is available under wholesale lending and retail lending.  Eligible borrowers under wholesale lending are banks, microfinance institutions, non-government organizations, cooperatives, SEC-registered financing companies, farmers and fisherfolk associations and other types of associations duly registered with corresponding government agencies.  All types of business entities engaged in agribusiness projects and registered with corresponding agencies are eligible for financing under retail lending.