Agribank identifies agriculture as the core market, farmers as companions

With the proportion of "Tam Nong" loans in recent years always at 65-70% of total outstanding loans, accounting for the largest market share of agricultural credit in Vietnam, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development ( Agribank ) identifies agriculture and rural areas as the key market, farmers as companions on the development journey. Recently, on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of its founding (October 14, 1930 - October 14, 2024), the Vietnam Farmers' Association chaired the organization of the program "Pride of Vietnamese Farmers" in 2024. This is a series of annual events to honor and promote typical advanced farmers in production and business activities, with creative inventions effectively applied in production, and active in the new rural construction movement. In addition, it directs the attention of policy makers, central and local ministries, experts, scientists, businesses and the community to the restructuring of the agricultural sector, improving the capacity of farmers, aiming to complete the goal of industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas. For many years, Agribank has been a companion unit in organizing this meaningful program.

Mr. Le Hong Phuc (far right), Deputy General Director of Agribank, member of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union, term VIII, attended the "Pride of Vietnamese Farmers" Program in 2024. Photo: ITN

Agribank is a key commercial bank investing in the development of the agricultural, farmer and rural economy. Over the years, Agribank has been implementing many solutions to increase access to capital for customers, especially for customers in the agricultural and rural areas. With the advantage of being a bank with a wide network throughout the country, Agribank has had many practical activities, closely coordinating with the Vietnam Farmers' Association and many political organizations in rural areas to cooperate in providing credit capital to serve agricultural production and business.

The cooperation between Agribank and the Vietnam Farmers' Union has supported and created favorable conditions for farmer members to borrow capital and use banking services for production and business. Photo: ITN

Since 2016, Agribank and the Vietnam Farmers' Union have signed an Inter-sectoral Agreement to effectively implement Decree 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 9, 2015 of the Prime Minister on agricultural, farmer and rural development (Decree 55), helping Farmers' Union members access loan capital in the fastest way, use loan capital for the right purpose and effectively. Lending activities through loan groups through the Farmers' Union, throughout the Agribank system, have achieved positive results. Currently, Agribank branches in the system have coordinated and cooperated with Farmers' Unions at all levels, establishing nearly 25,000 loan groups in villages, hamlets, communes, wards and towns, with more than 564,000 members, outstanding loans through loan groups through the Farmers' Union reached over VND 85,000 billion, an average growth of over 16%/year; The bad debt ratio is always below 0.5%. The coordination between Agribank and the Vietnam Farmers' Association has supported and created favorable conditions for farmer households to borrow capital and use banking services to develop production and business, increase income, improve living standards, and contribute to limiting black credit. Through the loan group, members of the Farmers' Association have increased access to loans, and are provided with payment, money transfer, and insurance products and services by banks in a convenient and effective manner, especially for households and individuals in remote, isolated, and disadvantaged areas with limited access to banks. Through this, the role of bank credit in implementing the "Three Farmers" policy has been effectively contributed, contributing to the development of microfinance for households in implementing the national comprehensive financial strategy. In addition to promoting lending activities through loan groups, Agribank has been actively implementing many solutions to increase access to capital for customers through the model of mobile transaction points using specialized cars, the "Tam Nong" Card Project and preferential credit programs specifically for customers in the agricultural sector, farmers, rural areas... Agribank proactively and actively implements effectively 7 policy credit programs, national target programs on new rural construction, sustainable poverty reduction, economic and social development in ethnic minority areas, providing over 200 convenient banking products and services with many distribution channels to meet the diverse needs of customers, actively contributing to the development of the non-cash payment market, improving access to banking services for the economy, especially in agricultural and rural areas. The proportion of Agribank's "Tam Nong" loans in recent years has always accounted for 65-70% of total outstanding loans and 1/3 of the country's "Tam Nong" sector credit. Recently, due to the impact of storm No. 3 (Yagi) and the floods after the storm, which caused huge damage to people and businesses in the North, in which people in agricultural production and business suffered very heavy damage, Agribank has proactively and promptly implemented solutions to support customers affected by storm No. 3 in 26 provinces and cities to recover and rebuild production and business activities, with a scale of 5,000 billion VND in preferential credit, interest rates from only 3.6%/year. For existing customer debt as of September 6, 2024, based on the level of damage of customers, Agribank has reduced the loan interest rate from 0.5% to 2%/year and exempted 100% of overdue interest and late payment interest during the period from September 6 to December 31, 2024... Agribank has been making efforts to implement many solutions to support customers, accompany them to overcome difficulties to recover and develop production and business according to the policies of the Government and the State Bank. Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/agribank-xac-dinh-nong-nghiep-la-thi-truong-trong-tam-nong-dan-la-nguoi-ban-dong-hanh-post393521.html