Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

Increased family income will ensure better family nutrition (better food), children's education, improved living conditions (people usually improve their homes, fix leaking roofs, etc.), expansion of businesses and a rise out of poverty.

Project Message

"ECLOF gives us more than credit, ECLOF gives us hope." ECLOF provides credit in rural communities, so they can build their lives there and do not need to migrate to cities or other countries.
- An ECLOF client, Eclof Staff

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Tiziana Conti,
Resource Development and Monitoring Assistant
150, route de Ferney
P.O. Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland P.O. Box 2100
Switzerland
+41 22 791 6545
Email:

Project Sponsor

ECLOF (Ecumenical Church Loan Fund)

Organization

Learn more about ECLOF International and the project team.

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Philippines and can also be found under Economic Development.

For more information about Philippines, read the Human Development Report on Philippines or the Wikipedia entry for Philippines.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on May 18, 2007.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on August 30, 2005.

Latest Update from the Field

Global Giving finances first loan in ECLOF Philippines Rice Farming Loan Program

By George Petty - Project leader, May 18, 2007 01:29 PM

Conchita Nitura, Jovelyn Siatrez, Maria Rafanan, Marilyn Villarosa belong to a solidarity group of peasant rice farmers in Palawan, Philippines called Nitura and Partners. All of the members are women. In effect, they, like most of the other peasant rice farmers in Palawan, take loans on behalf of their families because it is the families who traditionally work the farms. The group got an ECLOF loan of US$ 932, or approximately US$ 233 per family. This doesn’t seem like much, but as we see from the story about Conchita Nitura below, it can certainly go a long way for the peasant rice farmers of Palawan.

The Nituras

Conchita Nitura and her family live in a town called Sandoval and walk or ride their buffalo to their rice farm about 1 and 1/2 miles away. Conchita also owns and operates a small variety shop from the front of their house in order to bring in more family income. Salvador, Conchita’s husband, runs the family’s farm. Conchita’s role is mostly to handle the financial and administrative tasks of maintaining the family. The couple used to have only one hectare of land but thanks to their hard work and perseverance they now work around eight hectares.

The couple also used to have to borrow money from speculators in the area using a large part of their rice as payment. The speculators charge an unbelievable 10% per month. Before ECLOF started giving loans in Palawan, the speculators were the only ones who had enough money to buy the farmers’ rice. They in effect controlled the price of rice.

With the rice farming loan introduced by ECLOF Philippines, the farmers can now access loans with fair interest rates. The money gives them the means to afford, for example, inputs as well as transport costs to local outlets. Now, the farmers are in a much better position to control the selling price of their rice.

Around 60 - 80 sacks of rice can be produced from a one-hectare plot of land. One sack weighs on average 50 kilos. With a loan from ECLOF to cover production costs, the farmers can ultimately earn PhP 8 – 9 (US$ 0.17 – 0.19) per kilo as opposed to US$ 0.15 a kilo if they take a loan from a speculator. That’s a difference of approximately US$ 1 per sack or roughly US$ 60 – 80 more per hectare. As there are two rice crops per year in Palawan, that means that thanks to the loan financed from contributions to Global Giving through ECLOF, the Nituras can earn up to US$ 160 more per hectare per year or a total of roughly US$ 1,280 more per year or US$ 3.50 a day.

That’s a lot of money when you consider that over 40% of Filipinos live on less than US$ 2 a day and much less in rural areas.

Including the loan to Nitura and Partners, ECLOF Philippines has lent out to 337 peasant rice farmers in Palawan a total PhP 6,261,605 (US$ 130,450).

With the extra income from their farm, life understandably is better for the Nituras. They now have ten cows and have managed to put up a bigger and safer shelter for the animals. They were also able to buy their own rice thresher. They are especially happy because they can afford to keep their daughter in enrolled in high school. She has more years of schooling than both her parents combined.

Thanks to donations through Global Giving, contributors made it possible for ECLOF to extend badly needed credit to at least two groups of Philippine peasant rice farming families in the Philippines, like the Nituras.


Click below to read more about the loan program in the Philippines or see a picture of a rice farmer!
Attachments:

• Palawan Update-- GlobalGiving
• Photo of Mr. Nitura in the family rice fields

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