Agriculture Minister Says G.O.B. Intends to Lobby for Low Income Loans for Farmers

Jose Abelardo Mai

In recent weeks we have been reporting about the effects of floods on the country. The agriculture sector has not been spared – with farmers losing hundreds of acres in crops. As we showed you last week, we went to Valley of Peace to find out how the farmers are rebounding from the losses. The farmers association reported that they lost over three thousand heads of cabbage which has affected the local supply considering that they are the country’s biggest cabbage producer. The farmers there are struggling to get planting again and made a call to government to help them secure low interest loans. Today, in an interview with Minister of Agriculture Jose Abelardo Mai we asked him if this is a possibility.

Hipolito Novelo

“Now, in terms of the veggie farmers, one of the things they say that they are asking for is low interest loans from the government to help them get back on their feet. Is this something you are looking at or considering?”

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“Absolutely, not from the government but from the IFIs, negotiating with the banks and so on. As a matter of fact, I have scheduled a meeting with the DFC to discuss those same topics; not only the vegetable farmers but even the grain farmers. We know, for example, that Scotia Bank dropped their interest rates for some farmers from twelve percent to seven and a half percent. We need to see if other banks are doing the same and if they are not we need to ask them to do the same. We need to look at the agriculture performing loans and see how they are performing. Right now, to be honest, I think that very few agriculture loans are performing given the situation of natural disasters. So, yes, we need to do that. That is in our hundred day plan.”