State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has signed a P46.2-million term loan agreement with Kallen Pullet Farm to partially finance the construction of its startup contract growing project in Guinayangan, Quezon, a top official said.
DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said that the bank’s credit assistance was granted under its Broiler Contract Growing Program (BGCP) and would be used to construct two tunnel-ventilated buildings and the purchase of poultry equipment and generator sets.
“DBP’s intensified support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) reflect the bank’s unwavering commitment to empower small entrepreneurs and to help bolster the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic,” Herbosa said.
DBP is the seventh largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy – infrastructure and logistics, MSMEs, social services and community development, and the environment.
The BGCP is a financing program under the umbrella DBP Sustainable Agribusiness Financing Program (SAFP) and caters to broiler contract growers seeking to expand the operating capacity of their businesses to meet growing demand for dressed and processed chickens.
Kallen Pullet Farm is owned and operated by spouses Prudencio and Raquel De Luna. Registered in 2018, the business is located in an inherited parcel of land and is the first agriculture business of the couple, with son Dean Kester also involved in its management.
Herbosa said that DBP remains committed to empowering small entrepreneurs through responsive credit and technical assistance programs as the MSME sector steadily gets back on track after being waylaid by the prevailing national public health emergency.
He said the ability of MSMEs to swiftly recover and adapt in the vastly changed socio-economic landscape bodes well for the country in the long-run considering the sector’s considerable contribution to the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product as well as employment.
“DBP’s continued enhancement of its existing financing programs while pursuing more responsive interventions will ensure that MSMEs would continue to significantly impact on more Filipinos,” Herbosa said.