WB approves $1B loan to support Philippine agriculture

The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$1 billion loan aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and strengthening the climate resilience of the Philippines’ food system.

The Washington-based lender announced recently that its Board of Executive Directors formally green-lit the funding for the Philippines Sustainable Agricultural Transformation Project (PSAT), which aims to support sector-wide reforms in the country.

A farmer carries rice stalks to a threshing machine at a rice field in San Simon town, Pampanga province,

North of Manila April 6, 2008

The initiative will help modernise agricultural practices, enhance food and nutrition security, and create jobs, benefiting at least five million Filipino farmers nationwide.

This is a transformative investment in the Philippine agriculture sector, said Zafer Mustafaoğlu, World Bank Division Director for the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

By putting in place the right policies, systems, and partnerships, these projects will make agriculture more productive, competitive, and climate smart. Farmers will be better equipped to earn more, withstand climate shocks, and bring safer, more affordable food to Filipino households, he added.

PSAT will introduce climate-smart practices, including improved seed and nutrient management, water-saving and greenhouse-gas-reducing techniques, and post-harvest loss reduction.

It will also help farmers diversify, boost agrifood exports by making high-value crops and export certification laboratories more accessible, improve market access, and modernise logistics.

PSAT will also introduce a new digital voucher system to help deliver farm inputs faster and more transparently, linking public spending to measurable gains in yields and incomes.

In addition, it will further modernise the Department of Agriculture by strengthening budgeting, data management and procurement practices.

This new initiative aims to deliver tangible benefits for farmers and consumers alike. Farmers will see higher incomes through stronger agricultural productivity as well as greater diversification, improved climate resilience, reduced post-harvest losses, and growth in agrifood exports. Better use of public resources will further amplify these gains, said Mio Takada, World Bank Senior Agriculture Specialist.