Philippines, WB sign 370 million USD loan deal to assist Filipino farmers

The Philippines and the World Bank have signed a loan agreement worth 370 million USD for a project to support local farmers, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Philippines’ Department of Finance (DOF) as saying on July 20.

Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippines and the World Bankhave signed a loan agreement worth 370 million USD for a project to supportlocal farmers, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Philippines’ Departmentof Finance (DOF) as saying on July 20.

The loan agreement was signed recently by Philippine FinanceSecretary Carlos Dominguez and Achim Fock, who is the WB's acting countrydirector for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

The project aims to speed up the process of splitting about1.4 million hectares of land covered by the country’s Comprehensive AgrarianReform Program (CARP) and then providing individual titles to these parcelisedlots to some 750,000 farmers.

"The SPLIT project will improve the bankability offarmers and enable them to access credit and government assistance,"Dominguez was quoted by Xinhua News Agency.

The loan will support the Philippines' economic recoveryprogramme, added Dominguez.  

The government has redistributed about 4.8 million hectaresof land to some 2.8 million agrarian reform beneficiaries under the reformprogramme, but only 53 percent were in the form of individual land titles./.

VNA

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