DA seeks foreign funds for 9 projects

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will try to secure foreign funding for nine big ticket projects during the Philippine Development Forum in Cebu on March 8 to 9 this year.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the nine projects are farm-friendly initiatives that would help boost yields, reduce production losses, raise incomes and create more jobs in the countryside.

The nine projects include the proposed national grains highway, a cold chain system for agro-fishery product, rehabilitation and expansion of the Halsema Highway in Benguet, the Tabuk-Tinglayan Road in Kalinga and linkage of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway to the Dingalan Port in Aurora through Nueva Ecija.

Also included are the proposed expansion of the Marikina-Infanta Road leading to the Port of Real in Quezon and the road linking Mati in Davao Oriental to the province of Surigao del Norte, along with the completion of the Kabulnan Irrigation and Area Development Project in Maguindanao and the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project in Pangasinan.

Yap said the choice of the nine projects was made by the DA’s executive committee and were chosen on the basis of a four-point criteria.

These criteria include their impact on job creation and livelihood, number of potential beneficiaries, projected volume of agricultural produce to be generated and percentage of production losses reduced as a result of the completion of the project.

Yap said he would present the nine big-ticket projects to his fellow government officials and members of the international development community "to help seal funding support for these initiatives and secure the agriculture sector’s role as a primary engine of economic growth."

The PDF to be held in Cebu will be attended by Philippine government officials, representatives from the World Bank and other members of the international donor community.

The last PDF was held in March last year and was attended by some 300 participants.