During calamities CDA gives break in agri loan payments

In the absence of crop and marine insurance on the island, the Commonwealth Development Authority has put in place a program designed to help local farmers and fishers cope with financial losses caused by natural calamities.

Under the CDA program, local farmers and fishermen who have outstanding loans with the government-controlled lending agency are given a break in payment until the next harvest season.

CDA Executive Director Mary Lou S. Ada explained the program was instituted as an offshoot mechanism while the CNMI government, through a pending legislative measure, is working at bringing crop insurance to the Northern Marianas.

Rep. William Torres has recently introduced a legislative measure which would bring crop insurance into the CNMI in fresh efforts to facilitate the growth and development of the local agriculture sector.

Until the pending bill is passed and implemented, Ms. Ada said CDA is bent at exploring other means to help local farmers and fishermen improve their productivity, as well as manage their finances in cases of natural calamities.

“CDA will continue to give farmers and fishermen moratorium on loan payment especially when natural calamities disrupt their business. We want to give them enough time to plant and harvest,” she told an interview.

CDA is one of the biggest organizations in the Commonwealth that continue to assist government efforts to nourish subsistence livelihood as farming and fishing through several loan packages that are designed to accommodate both small-scale and medium-scale projects.

Ms. Ada said the development authority tries to be very sensitive about the issues faced by CNMI farmers and fishermen which paves the way for a regular discussion between experts from CDA and the members of the local agriculture sector.

“Farmers regularly come to us to discuss the problems they face and we try, as much as possible, to accommodate their request for a break in loan payment because we don’t want to foreclose,” she added.

Aside from business disruption caused by natural calamities, Ms. Ada said local farmers and fishermen also encounter problems relating to equipment malfunction.

In such a case, CDA exempts them from an existing agency policy which restricts the granting of additional loans to those who have outstanding accounts with the government’s lending arm.

At present, business experts from the development authority have been mobilized to call borrowers who have delinquent accounts for a series of consultation meetings held to identify problems that affect the ability of its clients to pay their dues on time.