The Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC) partnered with digital finance and services leader, PayMaya, to provide innovative financial disbursement platform for the Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA) Loan Program.

Through the said partnership, PayMaya will allow DA-ACPC’s partner lending conduits (PLCs) for KAYA to disburse loans to borrowers digitally through their PayMaya-enabled prepaid payment cards. The loan disbursement solution for PLCs is 24/7 and has a real-time crediting through the PayMaya PayOut web-based portal.

On the other hand, KAYA loan beneficiaries will enjoy various functionalities of the PayMaya card that allows them to make online and in-store payments, pay bills, buy load, send money, and withdraw funds, among other financial services which will allow them to continue to transact even in the face of pandemic-related restrictions such as physical distancing.

“With this digital platform, we will be able to reach out and convince more Filipino millennials to engage in agriculture, fishery and agribusiness ventures, and more importantly bankroll their respective projects,” said DA Secretary William Dar during the virtual launching of the KAYA digital card on July 6, 2020.

“As our lockdown experience has shown, we need to further explore the cyberspace and take our digitalization efforts to the next level as part of the new normal,” added the DA Secretary.

“Agriculture is one of the hardest-hit sectors in the current COVID-19 crisis, and we understand the great need to help and empower our farmers and fisherfolk during this time,” said PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando Vea. “We look forward to working together in our common mission to enable the grassroots and make them an engine for national recovery and progress.”

“We firmly believe that this program is worthy of our support as it encourages more young Filipinos to venture in farming and thus enhance our food security objectives,” said Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) President Emmanuel Herbosa. “We are ready to provide efficient disbursement of funds.”

The KAYA Program will finance capital requirements of start-up or existing agri-fishery-based projects of young entrepreneurs and agri-fishery graduates aged 18-30 years old.

It offers up to P500,000 loan per borrower payable not more than five years at 0% interest with not more than 3.5% management fee.

“This is just the beginning as we are setting our sights on integrating this technology solution to other credit programs in the near future,” said ACPC Executive Director Jocelyn Alma Badiola.

“With the involvement of key players such as PayMaya, DBP, and our PLCs in the digital financing ecosystem, we will be able to significantly contribute to financial inclusion by providing easier financing access to unserved and underserved small farmers and fisherfolk,” added ED Badiola.

Also present during the KAYA card virtual launch were PayMaya Philippines President Shailesh Baidwan, PayMaya Head of Wallet Partnerships Kenneth Palacios; officers of DA-ACPC, five KAYA beneficiaries from Central Luzon and representatives from partner lending conduits, namely: Myrna Sescon, Mindanao Consolidated Cooperative Bank; Atty. Albert Concha Jr., Rural Bank of Rizal; Marivic Leparto, Rural Bank of Manolo Fortich; and Liza Ison, New San Leonardo Rural Bank.