State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has granted a P2.01-billion loan assistance to the Provincial Government of Nueva Ecija to help local farmers cope with the falling prices of unmilled rice or palay. Under the Palay Price Support Program (PPSP), the local government will buy palay directly from farmer-beneficiaries at a higher rate than the prevailing farm gate price in the market and enable them to get reasonable return on production investment. Nueva Ecija is dubbed as the “Rice Granary of the Philippines,” with over 186,000 hectares of land devoted to rice farming.
Present during the signing of the loan agreement were DBP Chairman Alberto G. Romulo (center) and Nueva Ecija Provincial Governor Aurelio M. Umali (second from right). Also in photo are DBP senior officials (from left) Vice President Francis Thaddeus L. Rivera; Executive Vice President Jose Gabino D. Dimayuga; and Vice President Catherine T. Camarao.
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