DA, JICA team up for veggie value chain

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has teamed up with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to implement a five-year program to enhance the country’s vegetable value chain.

In a statement, the DA said the project, called Market-Driven Enhancement of Vegetable Value Chain in the Philippines (MV2C), adheres to President and Agriculture Secretary Marcos’ directives to attain food security in the country.

The MV2C is a technical cooperation project that aims to improve the Philippine vegetable value chain, which will encourage higher yield and income for farmers and achieve food security, availability, accessibility and affordability to every Filipino.

Within five years of its implementation, a vegetable value chain roadmap is expected to be developed.

The roadmap will identify challenges and solutions in the value chain, as well as in determining the roles of every stakeholder.

To commence the project, a value chain survey was initiated in selected vegetable-producing provinces like Benguet and Quezon, where the MV2C pilot projects are also expected to be implemented.

These projects shall include innovative solutions to promote efficiency along the vegetable value chain.

The DA said several workshops were also conducted this month to validate the survey results and to present the drafted roadmap.

These workshops were attended by vegetable farmers, government agencies, members of the academe and the private sector, who all expressed support and commitment to the action plans and projects under the MV2C.