New Agri Patent Reform Act to
speed up PH inclusive growth
PRESIDENT Duterte re-
cently signed the new
Agricultural Free Patett
Act (RA I 1231) which
promis€s to "deliver a
huge and inmediate in-
vestments in the country-
side and on inclusive
growth" ftom the agricul-
tule sector.
RA 11231 lifts restric-
tions on owners of agri-
cultural free patents and
lauds from selling or
mortgaging th€m within
five years'from date of
possession, which have
made th€m unbankable
assets since banks are not
inclined to hold a proper-
ty for five years before its
disposition.
Likewise lifted is the
option give to original
land owners to buy back
their lands within five
years from the date of
sale
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte
Salceda who principally
authored RA I1231 in the
lower house noted that
for an agricultural coun-
try like the Philippines, its
seems tmgic thai agricul-
ture contdbuted only.5olo
to the national gross do-
mestic product (GDP) in
2ot?. \ r
A noted economist,
will
Salceda said the law
bring about r adical
changes in the rural sec-
tor because it will "em-
powered farmers and give
them options on what to
do with their lands."
The restrictions, Sal-
ceda said further aggra-
vated th€ goyernment's
failure to help modernize
and maximize farm pro-
duction to make farming
more viable.
'Access to capital for
farmers to become
farmer-enttepreneuts has
always been problematic,
With RA I1231, Filipino
farmers can have easy ac-
cess to ftesh funds, break
away ftom stagnancy and
move fast across the other
side of the poverty line,"
he said.
Banks normally re-
quire loan borrowers to
present collaterals but
farmers almost always
have no assets to use u.
collateral other than the
lands they till. This situa-
tion, Salceda noted, is re-
flected in the poor com-
pliance by banks with the
Agri-Agra Reform Credir
Act of 2009, with banks
only allocating t.05yo of
their loan portfolio for
agrarian reforni credit vs.
the l0o/o required compli-
ance and 12.8]0/6 alloca-
t' ?za f
tion for agricultural cred-