by Elemarie L. Rosellon
17-Aug-2010 SEARCA News Release
Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, delivers the opening remarks at the 17th DL Umali Lecture Series held on 22 July 2010 at SEARCA. This year’s theme was Rural Credit: The Unresolved Dilemma, with Dr. Jovita M. Corpuz (second from right), Executive Director, Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) of the Department of the Philippines, as paper presenter. The lecture examined the past and present challenges as well as new opportunities in providing financial services to rural households, particularly small farmers. Others in photo are (l-r): Dr. Ricardo M. Lantican, National Scientist; Mr. Antonio L. Tiu, Chief Executive Officer of AgriNurture, Inc.; and Dr. Emil Q. Javier, President of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). The two other members (not in photo) of the discussion panel are Mr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, General Manager, Center for Agriculture and Rural Development-MRI Development Institute (CARD-MRI); Dr. Eulogio T. Castillo, Professor, Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Institutes, College of Public Affairs, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
The rural poor lack access to affordable finance for agriculture and other livelihood activities. Moreover, accessibility of the small farmers to credit remains limited and production risks remain high. These and other issues on rural credit business, as well as how they can be effectively addressed, were discussed during the 17th DL Umali Lecture Series held on 22 July 2010 at SEARCA.
With the theme Rural Credit: The Unresolved Dilemma, this year’s lecture had as keynote speaker Dr. Jovita M. Corpuz, Executive Director, Agricultural Credit and Policy Council (ACPC), Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines. She presented a paper titled Rural and Agricultural Finance in the Philippines: History, Status and Future Direction.
The lecture was organized by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), in cooperation with DL Umali Foundation, Inc. and SEARCA. The three organizations have been partnering for most of the Umali Lectures since the series was started in 1994.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, expressed gladness that through the Umali Lecture, SEARCA is able to contribute further to “an intelligent and highly-engaging discussion of contemporary development issues, particularly on agriculture and rural development, by well-recognized experts.” Noting that access to credit is an important factor of productivity growth, he expressed the hope that the discussions will shed more light on the rural credit puzzle and would help give guidance to the new set of leaders of institutions in the Philippines concerned with rural credit, in particular, and agricultural and rural development, in general.
A panel of sector representatives and experts discussed various aspects of rural credit and finance. The panel was composed of: (1) Mr. Antonio L. Tiu, Chief Executive Officer of AgriNurture, Inc., the biggest exporter of mangoes in the Philippines, representing corporate integrators; (2) Mr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, General Manager, Center for Agriculture and Rural Development-MRI Development Institute (CARD-MRI); and (3) Dr. Eulogio T. Castillo, Professor, Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Institutions, College of Public Affairs, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
Mr. Tiu shared unique ways of giving farmers new opportunities to increase their productivity and income. For example, they provide farmers with fertilizers in exchange for their seeds, or tractors in exchange for carabaos.
“How can the government help you?” The various responses to this question raised by Dr. Emil Q. Javier, NAST President, brought a positive tone toward the end of the lecture. Recommendations include the following:
- Give tax incentives to encourage young people to go into agriculture
- Bring down the high interest rates
- Include the small farmers in the supply chain
- Give importance to capacity-building on value formation, including business ethics.
- Facilitate the generation of markets by bringing opportunities to small farmers in strategic areas
- Provide good and useful data as well as incentives for the hard-to- reach places; and avoid asking for long reports from micro-finance institutions.
The DL Umali Memorial Lecture Series aims to provide a venue for discussing issues regarding agriculture, the environment, and other agriculture-related concerns, particularly those that have an impact on the welfare of small farmers.
