By Prince Golez
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged various stakeholders to expedite the P45.01 billion Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale-Up, which aims to develop the country’s agricultural sector for the benefit of 450,000 Filipino farmers and fishermen.
“Our priorities are going towards the same direction. Again, we will just have to scale up and do the necessary things,” Marcos Jr. said during a meeting with concerned government officials and the World Bank (WB) on Tuesday in Malacañang.
“We really have to develop the agricultural sector. So, let’s keep going. And, of course, what I am always reminded of is that we sometimes speak, in terms of agriculture, speak only of production. We have also to look at the farmers, fishermen,” he added.
The PRDP Scale-Up is the first project that has been approved in record time, with implementation set to begin only seven months after it was submitted for consideration by the Department of Agriculture to the National Economic and Development Authority.
It should be noted that projects are typically approved after three years.
Marcos Jr. said the government must strike a balance and ensure that farmers produce and earn more while consumers have a sufficient food supply at affordable prices.
He also raised the need for consolidation and inclusivity, as well as partitioning the collective Certificate of Land Ownership Awards for families to make farmland usable.
The original PRDP began in 2014 with the goal of establishing a modern, value-chain-oriented, and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector by providing critical infrastructure, facilities, technology, enterprises, information, productivity, and competitiveness in the countryside.
PRDP Scale-Up builds on the successes of the original PRDP to improve farmers’ and fishermen’s access to markets for increased income.
The project’s overall strategic directions include the government’s efforts to develop key agri-fishery investment areas from a regional perspective, as well as the clustering and consolidation of farmer and fisherfolk cooperative associations (FCAs) to achieve economies of scale.
Of the P45.01 billion total project cost, P33 billion will be financed through official development assistance loans from WB, while the P5.57 billion will come from the national government, and the P6.44 billion will be funded by the local government units and FCAs.
The project is expected to be approved by the World Bank Board on June 29, with the loan signing taking place in July. Once approved, project implementation will begin in August 2023.
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