THE Philippine Sugar Corporation (Philsucor) has P700 million in loan portfolio this year for sugarcane planters, its top official said.
Julie Estante, department manager of Philsucor, told SunStar Bacolod that of the agency's total loan portfolio, only about P15 million was utilized during the first quarter of 2018.
Thus, there is still an available amount of at least P600 million ready to be granted to qualified planters.
Philsucor is a government-owned and -controlled corporation under the Department of Agriculture (DA). It is chaired by Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Hermenegildo Serafica.
"We are trying to come up with more clients," Estante said, adding that most of the potential recipients are in Negros given the vast area of sugarcane plantation in the province.
Philsucor earlier said that it recognizes the need to expand the coverage of loans given to individual sugarcane planters.
The agency said it has been providing loans to individual sugarcane planters not affiliated with association and cooperative, but there are still many planters, especially small farmers, who cannot avail themselves of the program mainly because they have no business personality.
Thus, Philsucor is pushing for coverage of individual sugarcane planters even without businesses, requiring them just a collateral and reproduction report.
Under the crop loan program of Philsucor, planters are paying six percent interest per annum, particularly for farm inputs like fertilizers.
For farm mechanization equipment, meanwhile, the interest rate is 6.5 percent per annum. The payment period can also be extended from three to five years.
Estante said that if the P300 million for socialized credit program under the Sugar Industry Development Act (Sida) fund is not enough, Philsucor is ready to provide loans to sugarcane planters.
"They just have to come to us. We don't charge service fees and penalty for pre-payment," Estante said.
The six percent interest per annum is needed to cover the corporation's operating budget, personnel and other expenses, among others, she added.