NEGROS Occidental is one of the 10 priority-provinces that will receive part of the P150 million worth of credit assistance from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Noel Clarence Ducusin, chief of ACPC’s Program Development and Management Division, said on Thursday that Negros Occidental, one of the identified provinces situated along the 18 major river basins in the country, will be covered by the agency’s Climate Change Adaptation Financing Program.
He said that through this program, the DA is providing financing and incentives in support to the adaptation initiatives for agriculture.
“This is mainly to encourage small farmers and fisherfolk to adapt climate change adaptation practices and technologies,” Ducusin said, adding that the program also aims to increase agricultural productivity by building climate change resilient communities.
Other climate change vulnerable provinces include Isabela, Tarlac, Ilocos Sur, Camarines Sur, Cotabato, Negros Oriental, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Lanao del Norte.
For Negros Occidental, the DA has initially identified Bago City as recipient area thus, its small farmers and fisherfolk may avail of P15 million or more worth of credit assistance, depending on the level of need.
ACPC, which has worked with cooperative banks, is also looking at partnering with the Land Bank of the Philippines as credit agency that will provide financing in the province.
Ducusin said that ACPC is waiting for the Visayas State University in Leyte, which is the technical provider of the project, to submit the results of vulnerability assessment and cost-benefit analysis on Friday.
This stage is the first phase of the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiatives in Agriculture (Amia), which is a banner program of DA for climate change.
After receiving the reports on what technologies and commodities to be prescribed, the DA will start the social preparation, including the identification of beneficiaries and actual financing.
“Through the program, we hope to have our farmers and fisherfolk switch to technologies that can efficiently adapt with the climate change,” Ducusin said, adding that there are still many farmers doing the traditional yet not resilient practices.