Repayment is within eight years while accruing 2% interest

The Department of Agriculture announced they would be extending loans for recent graduates of agriculture-related courses in order to develop farming projects.

“We will encourage young students graduating from college to go back to the farms and use the technologies and knowledge that they learned,” said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol. “For them to go back, we will extend loans to them—production and equipment loans—and the things that they need to develop the farms of their parents.”

The loans carry a two percent interest rate and must be repaid within eight years.

“Under the program, new graduates could avail of loans from [the Department of Agriculture] Agricultural Credit Policy Council for farm production, equipment purchase, and agri-entrepreneurship to encourage the youth to get involved with agriculture,” the cabinet official noted on social media.

Three recent graduates of the Capiz State University-Pontevedra Campus are among the first to take advantage of the program after showcasing a buko-peeling machine earlier this week in Iloilo City.

“These are the kind of youth that we can engage in agriculture,” Piñol said. “Upon graduation, instead of looking for jobs, they have to form groups and fabricate these.”/WDJ