Rural farmers and fishers in the North Luzon, consisting of Regions 1, 2, 3 and CAR, will soon benefit from P371.9M worth of proposed sub-projects under the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP). Through its Enterprise Development component, the Project has accepted proposals that would aide rural residents in recovering from farming losses due to Typhoon Lando, formerly dubbed as Small Livelihood Projects.

Now called Micro-Enterprises, these sub-projects generally carry the objective of providing sustainable income-generating activities to farmers and fishers in the rural community. Majority of these sub-projects were proposed to restore the productive capacity of the proponent groups whose areas were stricken by calamities, causing massive losses to their livelihood.

Business proposals falling under micro-enterprises should not exceed P3 million, otherwise they would be categorized under Small Enterprises (P3M – P15M) or Medium Enterprises (P15M – P100M).

Furthermore, new micro-enterprises should be based on the Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and must be aligned with the priorities of the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP), as originally applied to all enterprise sub-projects.

As of July 29, the Project Support Office (PSO) Luzon A has received 143 proposals, 28 of which have been issued with the first No Objection Letter (NOL) – 14 from Region 2 and 14 from Region 3. Receipt of said letter indicates the go signal for the procurement process involving the proposed sub-project.

Central Luzon accounts for about 40% of the cluster’s micro-enterprise proposals, with a total of 57 submitted proposals. Meanwhile the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has submitted 24 proposals, Ilocos Region with 22 and Cagayan Valley with 40.

“The administration is concentrated to the needs of our rural farmers and fishers, and the PRDP fully supports that mandate,” said PSO Luzon A Deputy Project Director Elma Mananes.

Apart from Micro-Enterprises, PRDP’s Enterprise Development component or I-REAP is responsible for engaging competent proponent groups of the regions in the production of profit-making surplus through investments in strategic segments of priority commodity value chains prioritized under the Regional Agriculture and Fishery Modernization Plan and the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan. The cluster is currently also working on a P3.6 million-small enterprise and 26 medium enterprises totaling to P442.4M.

The PRDP is special project under the DA that seeks to establish the government platform for a modern, climate-smart and market-oriented agri-fishery sector. The Project partners with the LGUs and the private sector in providing key infrastructure, facilities, technology, and information that will raise incomes, productivity, and competitiveness in the countryside.  (Kayla Arceo, DA-PRDP PSO InfoACE)