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Tuesday, September 21, 2004
P2B credit facility for banana growers
SMALL banana growers in Davao Region will be the initial beneficiaries of the P2 billion credit facility set aside by the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor), through the initiative of the Mindanao Business Council (MBC).
A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between Quedancor and MBC last week, during the 13th Mindanao Business Conference (13th Minbizcon).
The MOA aims to strengthen the partnership between the two agencies in addressing the financial needs of the small banana growers.
However, only small banana growers of the region could initially benefit from the P2 billion credit facility.
MBC vice chair Romeo Serra explained the initial implementation would only cover the region so that there would be close monitoring of the project.
Serra said eventually all other regions in Mindanao would be reached by the project, saying the credit facility is intended to cover the whole island.
Serra said banana growers need government support because of the growing demand for bananas in the global market.
Serra cited that fresh banana fruits and banana chips are still on the top export products of Mindanao.
The agreement, on the other hand, was anchored on recognizing the importance of the banana industry to Mindanao's economy, which contributes a sizeable portion of the island-region's total export earnings; acknowledgment of the huge potentials of the banana industry in creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Mindanao to support the government's ongoing effort to generate at least one million new jobs every year; and due to the limited availability of an appropriate financing facility that could support the establishment of new plantations as well as expansion and upgrading of existing production areas, Quedancor then, would support the funding requirement of these banana growers, in partnership with MBC.
Each qualified beneficiary is entitled to avail of a loan of P10,000 to P500,000. (JMM)
(September 21, 2004 issue)
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