MANILA, Philippines – With barely two months left in his term, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala is hopeful the next administration will embrace the reforms instituted by the agency, particularly the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
The PRDP aims to establish a modern, inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agri-fisheries sector.
“We hope to leave the DA and the PRDP with a mission that will both showcase our achievements and draw out the best lessons from our experience to steer the project towards its goals and vision,” Alcala said.
The World Bank has concluded its second implementation support mission to the PRDP, the last mission under Alcala’s tenure.
“We look forward to ending this mission with a set of concrete plans to improve on where we may have limitations. We should recognize the gaps, commit to promptly addressing them, and move with more confident strides,” Alcala said.
The latest development on the PRDP is the proposed $450 million additional financing from the National Economic Development Authority within the year that will focus on supporting enterprise facilities and high value commodities nationwide.
“We will be proud to share with the new administration that the PRDP had a strong start-up and that it has earned satisfactory performance ratings from the World Bank,” he said.
Under the PRDP, the Agriculture department has nurtured a culture of multi-stakeholder participation in pursuit of an inclusive rural economic growth.
“We have created active citizens who demand transparency and accountability and who recognize their indispensable roles and responsibilities in our multi-stakeholder accountability process,” Alcala said.
Alcala underscored the importance of innovating, and maximizing emerging benefits, not only to steer the PRDP towards achieving its objectives, but also to inspire change in how agricultural stakeholders do business in and with the government.
“We hope to see that, with the PRDP as inspiration, a system will be eventually put in place to harmonize planning and budgeting in the whole of the DA bureaucracy,” he said.
The six-year national project aims to increase rural income by five percent per annum and enhance farm and fishery productivity in the targeted areas in the four clusters of North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The PRDP is operating in 78 of the 80 provinces nationwide with current total portfolio of P39 billion for the infrastructure development component and P400 million for the enterprises segment.