Philippines to get ADB loan for farmers in south
3/11/2008 16:17
The Philippines will get a loan of US$100 million from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) to improve the lives and incomes of over 150,000 poor
farmers in southern Philippines, the lender said today.
The ADB loan project,
or the Agrarian Reform Communities Project II, will include six provinces in the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao that have high levels of poverty, the
Manila-based development bank said in a statement.
The project will improve
rural infrastructure and distribution networks, including farm-to-market roads,
bridges, small-scale irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, and widen the
access of target communities to social infrastructure such as potable water
supply systems and other community facilities, according to the
statement.
Meanwhile, it will train farmers to work in the infrastructure
projects and enhance agribusiness activities to support poor beneficiaries of
the government's agrarian reform program, which redistributes land to landless
farmers and helps them to become market-oriented producers.
The project will
also provide technology and extension support to assist farmers boost the
productivity of their crops, as well as partner with micro-finance institutions
and nongovernment organizations to develop new agri-enterprises and
markets.
"The project will substantially expand the rural production base by
assisting the poor to break out of subsistence farming, to diversify their
livelihood activities, to raise production and distribution efficiencies, to
improve their market position, and to provide employment opportunities for
landless households," said Manoshi Mitra, Senior Social Development Specialist
at ADB's Southeast Asia Department.
Besides, it will also aim to build
stronger, more representative farmer organizations with vulnerable groups,
particularly women, involved in the consultation process for new development
initiatives.
Funding will come from a loan of US$70 million from ADB's
ordinary capital resources (OCR), with an additional US$30 million to be sourced
from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), which is administered
by ADB.
ADB's OCR loan will have a 25-year repayment period, including a
grace period of five years, and an interest rate based on the ADB London
Interbank Offered Rate-based lending facility. The OFID loan will have a 20-year
maturity, including a five-year grace period, a one-percent service charge and a
three-percent interest rate.
Xinhua
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