Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 27) – The Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday that the “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” assistance has reached ₱5.48 billion, which benefitted more than 14,000 farmers.
“The value has reached ₱5.48 billion, so ang laki na ng tulong nitong [the] Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita (has already helped a lot). The whole purpose is for the farmers to get better prices of their produce and for the consuming public to get affordable prices of commodities,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Ngayon.
Dar said that as of May 22, during the last two and a half months, a total of 14,864 farmers have benefitted from the program who are mostly from Benguet Trading Post and Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Trading Center. About 970,747 households in the National Capital Region were served through the program, he said.
The “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” project is a direct marketing program of the department that allows selling of major agricultural goods at reasonably lower prices in order to help Filipino farmers and households. Launched in 2019, this serves as a direct link between farmers and fisherfolk and the consuming public.
As for its other loan programs, Dar said as of May 27, loans under SURE Aid and Recovery Project for marginalized small farmers, or those who till two hectares and below, and fisherfolk has amounted to ₱239 million for 9,544 farmers.
“Another set of borrowers are the Micro-Small Enterprises at ang nabigay na namin na pautang ay (and we already gave total loans of) ₱354 million with 51 MSE borrowers,” Dar said.
The Agriculture Secretary said for those interested in venturing into Agri-business, the department still has other loan programs that are managed by the Landbank of the Philippines.
As for overseas Filipino workers who are interested in getting into Agriculture, Dar said that they are also welcome to avail assistance from the DA’s loan programs. One of which is the Agri-Negosyo, where they can avail a maximum loan of ₱10 million. They just have to submit a business plan and registration documents to be submitted to the Agricultural Credit Policy Council for review.
Promoting Urban Farming
To further boost food security within households, the DA is also promoting urban farming, especially in Metro Manila. Dar said that distribution of seeds in Metro Manila, as well as in other parts of the country has been on-going for the last two months. These varieties grow within a month or two.
The Agricultural Training Institute handles the distribution of seeds in Quezon City and Caloocan City, while the Bureau of Plant Industry handles majority of areas in Metro Manila. Regional offices handle distribution in their specific areas.
