The Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) to provide financing and capacity building to small farmers and to tap farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs) as lending partners.
As per the signed MOU, the partnership is composed of six components:
● Endorsement of JGF partners as potential Partner Lending Conduits (PLC) for DA-ACPC programs;
● Endorsement of DA-ACPC PLCs for JGF’s agro-enterprise training;
● Joint provision of capacity building for farmer groups;
● Provision of DA-ACPC loan products to JGF farmer-suppliers;
● Documentation of testimonials and success stories; and
● Monitoring and evaluating the results, effectiveness, and impact of the collaboration.
“Our collaboration will be rooted in the agri value chain financing approach to make material, technical, and financial resources available to farmers to reduce the risk and cost of financing and increase the efficiency of the value chain as a whole,” said DA-ACPC.
The DA-ACPC stressed that with Filipino farmers and fishers experiencing limited access and resources for harvesting, processing, packaging, and marketing their produce, they “often fall victim to low farmgate prices and little to no profit.
Through the collaboration of DA-ACPC, the partnership can provide the farmers with the right training, tools, and capital to help them finance their agri-ventures, efficiently manage their resources, and harvest, process, and sell their produce to an assured and stable market for sustainable profit.
Meanwhile, JGF Executive Director Gisela Tiongson welcomed the partnership, which she said is one of the food giant’s initiatives towards its mission of contributing to national development.
Aside from implementing its Farmer Entrepreneurship Program, which trained over 3,000 farmers and tapped 17 farmer groups to become the Jollibee Group’s accredited vegetable suppliers, the JGF has also been collaborating with the DA Farm and Fisheries Clustering and Consolidation (F2C2) Program in upskilling the agency’s Regional Field Offices on the Agro-Enterprise Clustering Approach.
The DA-ACPC’s financing resources and know-how will further boost the flow of capital to make farming a sustainable enterprise. At the same time, the DA-ACPC is ready to promote to more farmers the agro-enterprise clustering approach, which is the backbone on which the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program is anchored.
“I do believe that this project, together with the rest of the projects that we are undertaking in the Department, would be very important to the program of the President in food security,” Usec DFP said.
The ACPC is an attached agency of the DA that is mandated to develop and promote agricultural credit policies promoting farmers’ and fisherfolk’s access to sustained financial services.
As of December 2021, the ACPC reported reaching a total of 436 unbacked municipalities, releasing about P5.39 B in loans to 95,943 small farmers and fisherfolk and 396 agri-fishery-based micro and small enterprises and farmer/fisher organizations all over the country.
Aside from Senior Undersecretary and JGF Executive Director Tiongson, the MOU signing was attended by ACPC Executive Director Jocelyn Alma Badiola, ACPC Vice Chair V. Bruce Tolentino, JGF Trustees Senen Bacani and Ysmael Baysa, and other officials and staff of the three institutions. ### (Krystelle Ymari Vergara, DA-AFID)
