One of Philippine Rural Development Project’s (PRDP) objectives is to increase the income of farmer beneficiaries by 30 percent within six years. These beneficiaries who are qualified farmer organizations will be awarded enterprises (i.e. Small Livelihood Project, microenterprises, small and medium enterprises) under the PRDP.

To be able to gauge the impact of the Project, its Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit conducted a Baseline Data Gathering to survey the socio-economic status of the farmer beneficiaries before and after the enterprises are awarded.

The M&E of the PRDP utilizes the Stratified Random Sampling method in gathering data on the socio-economic status of farmer beneficiaries. Given a number of farmers, only a certain percentage will be profiled and interviewed.

The farmer beneficiaries are asked about their farm, off-farm, and non-farm incomes, their sources of agricultural knowledge, and their access to credit and government assistance.

From February 21 to March 17, 2017, the Project will profile around 1,150 direct farmer beneficiaries from 46 farmer organizations who are receiving SLPs in Ilocos Region.

These SLPs are worth P1.2 million each and will grant Farm Mechanization Service Facility, comprising of a four-wheel tractor, rotavator, cage roller, and trailer to the farmers. The machines are expected to reduce the cost of land preparation incurred by Ilocos farmers when planting rice and other commodities.

Submission and funding of proposals for the SLP ended in December 2016. SLPs are the Project’s mitigation measure to assist farmers who suffered economic losses when Typhoon Lando hit Luzon in October 2015.

Meanwhile, five small and medium enterprises have been submitted to the Project and are still under review for funding. These enterprises are in support to Ilocos Region’s priority commodities which include mango, onion, goat, and peanut.

Last October 2016, the Project profiled the Women’s Unity for Progress and Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Mapandan, Pangasinan and the Cabugao Mango Farmers Association in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.

Women’s Unity received their SLP last January 24, 2017 in Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan, while the Cabugao Farmer’s enterprise is still under procurement.

The profiling and survey of the Project’s direct farmer beneficiaries are expected to be accomplished before the next World Bank Mission. The World Bank funded the PRDP through a government loan worth $504 million. The Department of Agriculture will implement PRDP from 2015 to 2020. (Dessa Estrada, DA-PRDP RPCO1 InfoACE Unit)