Land Bank launches ASCEND

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The Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) targets to support at least 10,000 small farmers, fishers and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide annually starting this year, under its Agri-Fishery Support thru Capability Enhancement for Nationwide Development (ASCEND) Program.

The bank said in a statement over the weekend the program aims to provide agricultural stakeholders with the knowledge, skills and resources needed for sustained growth, as well as address the need for tailored interventions to ensure productive and profitable agri-business ventures.

“With Land Bank ASCEND, we aim to elevate the livelihoods of local agricultural producers, empowering them to maximize their full potential and actively contribute to national economic growth. This complements our continued efforts to provide accessible financial assistance and other meaningful support interventions across the agriculture value chain,” said Lynette Ortiz, Landbank president and chief executive officer.

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Landbank said the program delivers holistic support through six integrated components, including training and upskilling to provide technical training to strengthen individual and organizational capabilities, paired with a digital financial literacy component to equip beneficiaries with more effective financial management.

The program also employs stakeholder mapping to classify beneficiaries based on their capacity levels and financing access, it added.

Insights from such process will then be utilized in module development to create customized training materials, with modes of training delivery to include classroom sessions, virtual platforms, hands-on activities, demonstrations, coaching and mentorships.

To ensure sustainable outcomes, the program incorporates a monitoring and evaluation component to assess the effectiveness of training modules and track the progress of beneficiaries.

Additionally, a market linkage component also connects beneficiaries to market opportunities through business clustering and other schemes.

Eligible beneficiaries of the ASCEND program include ARBs, duly registered farmers as well as members of their household and their micro, small and medium enterprises and agrarian reform communities.

Landbank is currently the largest development financial institution in the Philippines that is present in all 82 provinces in the country.

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