April 23, 2013 11:48 pm

TACLOBAN CITY, April 23 — The government’s Sikat Saka program is now available to farmers in Leyte.

On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture (DA-8) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) gathered Leyte farmers at the St. Benedict Farmers Institute for Sustainable Agriculture in Barangay Lingayon, Alangalang, Leyte for a briefing on the program.

Sikat Saka is a lending program under the DA’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) that gives small palay farmers access to credit, through their respective irrigator’s associations, for their dry season requirements.

Under this scheme, farmers will enjoy a lower interest rate of 15 percent per annum for the first two loan cycles. It can go as low as nine percent per annum on the eighth loan cycle if the farmer consistently pays the full amount of the amortization on time.

The program also introduces the DA’s use of automated teller machines (ATMs) in releasing program loans to farmers.

According to Leyte Provincial Agriculturist Roger Portula, the program aims to encourage more farmers to plant hybrid-rice varieties and achieve self-sufficiency in the staple by the end of 2013.

Farmers who want to plant hybrids can avail themselves of production loans of up to P50,000 per hectare and P41,000 per hectare if they wish to plant in-breds under the expanded P400-million Sikat-Saka credit program implemented by the DA and Land Bank of the Philippines.

The promotion of hybrid rice is an integral part of the FSSP, the government’s banner food-security program that aims to attain sufficiency in rice and major staples like white corn, root crops and plantains.

In a message read before participating farmers, Leyte Gov. Mimietta S. Bagulaya said that long before the Sikat Saka Program was inplemented, the province had introduced a loan scheme to help rice farmers in the province.

“It is good to note that the Department of Agriculture is bringing the program to our province. But long before this program we already have the ICOT Rice Program, a similar program which provides loans to our farmers and offers an available market for their produce,” the governor’s message read.

Meanwhile, it was learned, that farmers whose applications are approved under the Sikat Saka Program, can use their ATM cards to draw on their loans under the program.

Sikat Saka was tested last year in major rice-producing provinces like Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Iloilo and North Cotabato.

The program is now being introduced in 16 more provinces this year including the province of Leyte.

DA attached agencies will also extend technical support to farmer-beneficiaries under the program. These support services include extension and training from the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI); processing and market linkage from the National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) and the National Food Authority (NFA); and organizational support to potential Irrigation Associations (IA) from the National Irrigation Administration 

(NIA). (PNA) LAP/PGL/ACREYES