Performance evaluation of the Fertilizer Loan Assistance Program (FLAP) for rice farmers of the municipal government of Nasugbu, Batangas.

Date

4-2013

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Manilay, Alessandro A.

Abstract

The performance of the Fertilizer Loan Assistance Program (FLAP) for rice farmers of the Municipal Government of Nasugbu, Batangas was evaluated. This study aimed to describe the Fertilizer Loan Assistance Program in terms of its objectives, organizational structure, functions and operating procedures, to determine the growth of financial resources and collection rate of the loan assistance program, to determine the level of fertilizer use of farmer-beneficiaries, to compare the actual amount of fertilizers lent to farmer-beneficiaries with the recommended amount of fertilizers per cropping season and to determine the satisfaction level of the beneficiaries with regard to the assistance program. Three aspects determined the program’s efficiency and sustainability, namely, operational efficiency, financial viability, and farm level impact. Under the operational efficiency, the systems and procedures of the program in providing loans was evaluated together with the FLAP’s organizational set-up. The financial viability aspect determined the source and growth of financial resources, and the loan collection performance. The farm level impact focused on the growth of farmer-beneficiaries, availability of fertilizer stocks, satisfaction level of beneficiaries on FLAP’s services and operating system, and the comparison of the amount of fertilizer required to apply on rice farms per cropping season in Nasugbu and the actual amount lent to farmer-beneficiaries by FLAP. All of these were accomplished with the use of primary data from interviews with 30 randomly selected farmer-beneficiaries using pre-tested questionnaires and secondary data from the Municipal Agriculture Office. The criteria in choosing farmer-beneficiaries, loanable amount, loan application and requirements, loan processing and release, monitoring of the beneficiaries, penalties and legal concerns, and documentation were the areas studied under the systems and procedures of the loan program. The FLAP’s loan collection performance was evaluated using Collection Rate and Average Collection Period. The average collection rate of the loan program from 2008- 2012 was 79% and the average collection period (ACP) of the program within five years was 253.29 days. The ACP value reflects that there were some problems in the program’s loan collection. The farm level impact includes the growth of farmer-beneficiaries. The largest number of beneficiaries was recorded in 2010 with 96 beneficiaries. On the average, FLAP has 72 farmer-beneficiaries. Moreover, the actual amount of fertilizers lent to farmer-beneficiaries was not able to meet the amount of fertilizers needed by the farmers. The amount of fertilizer that can be lent to farmers mostly depends on the availability of stocks at the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO). The farmer-beneficiaries’ evaluation of FLAP was based on some criteria. The farmer-respondents gave a positive response with regard to the loan processing, bags of fertilizer provided and the loan maturity of the loan program. 77% of the farmer- beneficiaries said that they were satisfied on the loan program. In general, the results of this study indicate that the Fertilizer Loan Assistance Program (FLAP) for rice farmers of the municipal government of Nasugbu, Batangas was accessible and helpful to farmer-borrowers but not efficient in its loan collection.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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