World Bank OKs $99.3-M loan for local farm project

The World Bank has approved a $99.3-million loan to partly finance a project in the Philippine aimed at improving farmers’ competitiveness and market access.

In a statement Saturday, the Washington-based multilateral lender said its board of executive directors on June 9 approved financing for the Philippines’ $231-million Inclusive Partnerships for Agricultural Competitiveness (Ipac) project.

The Department of Agrarian Reform-led undertaking will also be financed by the government ($131 million) and the beneficiaries ($28 million).

The World Bank said about 300,000 farmers and farm workers stood to benefit from the project, which will support the efforts of farmer organizations to improve productivity and the quality of products as well as find more markets in order to raise farmers’ incomes.

Among the targeted beneficiaries, 20 percent were poor and 30 percent were women, the World Bank said.

The project, to be rolled out among agrarian reform community clusters across 44 provinces, will also help strengthen the capacity of farmer organizations to engage in commercial agriculture, provide extension services, develop enterprises, secure individual land titles for their members and improve rural infrastructure, the bank added.

The provinces that will benefit from the project include Abra, Aklan, Albay, Bataan, Basilan, Batangas, Benguet, Bohol, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cebu, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Eastern Samar, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Isabela, La Union, Lanao del Sur, Leyte, Maguindanao, Marinduque, Masbate, Misamis Occidental, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Sarangani, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Viscaya, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon, Sorsogon, Tarlac, Western Samar and Zambales.