Saturday, December 20, 2008 LBP urged to extend production loan
THE Mango Council in Southern Mindanao is lobbying for an agreement with the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) to extend production loans to mango growers in Davao Region.
Antonio Teh, chair of the Southern Mindanao Mango Industry Development Council, bared this in Friday's interview.
Teh said to avail of the financial assistance is one of the concerns of the small mango growers in the region, adding that the state-run bank may not require collateral to extend the loan.
"We are working out for a meeting with the Landbank for the setting up of a window for production loan. The loan will be granted with no collaterals, it will be the role of the council to see to it that the growers will utilize the money for mango production," Teh told Sun.Star Davao.
He said the bank will grant P1,000 loan per tree for mango trees between 10 to 20 years old.
Teh said that aside from the financing assistance, the presence of the middlemen in mango trade is also one of the concerns of mango growers.
But Teh was quick to add that middlemen have gone down because of the council's advocacy to encourage growers to directly sell their produce to the buyers.
"Before, there are five to seven middlemen involved in the mango trading, but farmers now are encouraged to go directly to the buyers, thus the number is lessened," Teh said.
"We also give cellphone numbers to the growers (so they can contact us)," he added.
It was learned that the council has more than 100 members at present. (JGRS)
