Section 23
SEC. 23. Sections 105 and 106 of the same Code are hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 105. Loaning Activities.—Loaning activities of the Agricultural Credit Administration shall be directed to stimulate the development and operation of farmers' cooperatives. The term "Farmers Cooperatives" shall be taken to include all cooperatives relating to the production and marketing of agricultural products and these formed to manage and/or own, on a cooperative basis, agricultural farmlands, services and facilities, such as irrigation and transport systems, established to support production and/or marketing of agricultural products. "Under such rules and regulations in accordance with generally accepted banking practices and procedures as may be promulgated by the Agricultural Credit Administration, Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, and Development Banks may, in their respective localities, be designated to act as agents of the Agricultural Credit Administration in regard to its loaning activities." "SEC. 106. Credit to Small Farmers and/or tillers of the land.—Production loans and loans for the purchase of work animals, tillage equipment, seeds, fertilizers, poultry, livestock, feed and other similar items, may be extended to small farmers as defined in Republic Act Numbered Eight hundred twenty-one and/or tillers of the land, based upon their paying capacity and such securities as they can provide, and under such terms and conditions as the Agricultural Credit Administration may impose, provided the amount thereof does not exceed two thousand pesos, or such amount as may be fixed by the President at any given agricultural year: Provided, That his total outstanding obligations shall not exceed five thousand pesos, but in no case shall the amount of loan exceed eighty per centum of the value of the collateral pledged. In instance where credit is extended for items which are not consumed in their use, such items may be pledged as security therefor. The Agricultural Credit Administration shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary in the extension of the loans herein authorized so as to assure their repayment: Provided, That such rules and regulations shall follow and be in accordance with generally accepted financing practices and procedures."