At the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Vegetable Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad, Benguet during the Coronavirus Lockdown on April 16, 2020. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr seeks an efficient implementation of the P45-billion Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to develop the agriculture sector, Malacañang said Tuesday.
The program is aimed at creating a modern, value-chain-oriented, and climate-resilient agri-fishery sector by providing important key infrastructure.
This scaled-up version of the PRDP was aimed at "building on the gains" the program achieved in recent years to "further improve the access of farmers and fisherfolk to markets for increased income," said the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
“Our priorities are going towards the same direction... Again, we will just have to scale up and do the necessary things,” Marcos said during his meeting with the officials of the World Bank in Malacañang to ask about its status.
“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 said.
The project cost is estimated to be P45 billion, of which P33 billion will come from official development assistance (ODA) loans from the World Bank, P5.57 billion from the national government, while P6.44 billion will be sourced through local government units and farmer and fisherfolk cooperative associations.
The project is expected to benefit 450,000 farmers and fisherfolk and yield about 42,000 new jobs.
Among the program's strategies include the identification of important agri-fishery investment areas, clustering and consolidation of farmer and fisherfolk cooperative associations.
"The enhanced mainstreaming of PRDP innovations towards institutionalization in the DA is also part of the agency’s overall strategic directions along with enhanced efforts to respond to rural infrastructure demand with farm-to-market roads as one of the priority investments," the Palace said.