Marcos launches P3B Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid Program for farmers

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., on his 67th birthday, expressed a desire for improvements within the agriculture sector to enhance farmers’ livelihoods and welfare.

He launched the Agri-Puhunan at Pantawid Program (APP) in Nueva Ecija aimed at providing rice farmer-members of agricultural cooperatives with low-interest loans and financial aid over an area spanning 1.2 million hectares nationwide, securing P3 billion for credit facilities to support farmers during the dry cropping season from 2024 to 2025.

Farmers will receive interventions monitoring cards that can be used to purchase seeds, fertilizers, and other farming equipment, as well as P32,000 in financial aid distributed in four tranches of P8,000 monthly.

Marcos also led the distribution of Certificates of Condonation and Release of Mortgage (COCROMs) to around 6,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries, condoning P277 million in debts under the New Agrarian Emancipation Act signed into law in 2023.

The initiative aims to alleviate the financial burden on farmers and ensure their land security while supporting agricultural production in Central Luzon, which is the country's largest contributor to agriculture.