During the check turn-over ceremony, DA-ACPC Executive Director Jocelyn Alma R. Badiola, handed over checks for P10 million each to the managers/representatives of the nine cooperative banks with approved fund allocations. The event was witnessed by ACPC Deputy Executive Director Ramon C. Yedra and other ACPC officers together with Ms Perla G. Baltazar of the DA-System Wide Climate Change Office (DASWCCO).

The cooperative banks with approved fund allocations are: Cooperative Bank of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur Cooperative Bank, Cooperative Bank of La Union, Cooperative Bank of Nueva Vizcaya, First Isabela Cooperative Bank, Cooperative Bank of Negros Oriental, Cooperative Bank of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon Cooperative Bank and Cooperative Bank of Cotabato. The cooperative banks have each executed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with ACPC and have complied with all the documentary requirements for the release of their respective fund allocations within the month of September 2016 in accordance with the CCAFP cash program submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

A total of P105 million fund has been approved in favor of ten cooperative banks that have applied under the CCAFP. The funds will be drawn against the P150 million CCAFP Fund under ACPC’s approved P2.0 billion in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2015.

The CCAFP is a P150 million special credit facility to encourage adoption by non-ARB small farmers/fisherfolk of climate change adaptation practices and technologies such as planting of new crop varieties developed to withstand certain adverse effects of climate change (e.g. drought-tolerant, submergence-tolerant, early-maturing crops). The CCAFP will serve as a pre-disaster intervention focused on prevention and preparedness to complement ACPC’s Calamity Assistance Financing Program which serves as a post-disaster, quick response mechanism focusing on rehabilitation and recovery of agricultural households affected by extreme weather events and calamities.

Loans to small farmers/fisherfolk to encourage them to adopt the DA-recommended climate change adaptation practices and technologies will be extended through the cooperative banks. The Program will coordinate with concerned DA units for the provision of necessary technical support – such as identification of technologies to be promoted for financing, training and education on appropriate technologies and technology information materials.

The target beneficiaries are the small farmers and fisherfolk registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA). Priority commodities to be financed by the program are rice, corn, livestock and poultry, coconut and other high value crops, fishery and other commodities prioritized by the DA. The CCAFP will be implemented in provinces covered by the 18 priority river basins in the country (Table 1) and the provinces affected by Typhoon Yolanda (Table 2).

CCAFP is part of the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA) being implemented by the DASWCCO. AMIA aims to establish resilient yet progressive agriculture and fishery livelihoods and communities through the provision of highly responsive agriculture and fishery support services. This will be done through the implementation of seven systems-wide mainstreaming programs: (1) Strategic mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture; (2) Climate Information System (CIS); (3) Philippine Adaptation and Mitigation in Agriculture Knowledge Toolbox; (4) Climate-Resilient Agriculture Infrastructure: (5) Adaptation Financing and Risk Transfer Instruments; (6) Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Fisheries Regulations; and (7) Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Fishery Extension System. CCAFP is under the Adaptation Financing and Risk Transfer Instruments of AMIA.

Table 1. Eighteen Major River Basins in the Philippines

Table 2. RSBSA-Provinces Affected by Typhoon Yolanda

DA-ACPC turns over P90 M to Cooperative Banks for Climate Change Adaptation Financing Program