“PRDP is very helpful in accelerating the development in our province. It is a project worth emulating.”

This is how Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas characterized the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the interagency convergence on the use of Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) on March 14, 2019 at the National Economic Development Authority CALABARZON Building.

The MOU signing is part of the Project’s effort to broaden investments that support the development of priority commodities in the province.

“It is a tool for the different agencies to harmonize our interventions to further enhance the investments especially in the region,” PRDP South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) Director Arnel de Mesa said.

The formation of the interagency convergence primarily aims to address issues that hamper the commodity value chain. This initiative also allows building partnership between and among Provincial Local Government Units (PLGUs) and government agencies to ensure that all development interventions are based on the needs of the industries and ensure the participation of the smallhold farmers and fishers in the commodity value chain.

These commodities include coffee, mango, banana, coconut, dairy cattle, dairy carabao, seaweeds, and chicken egg. Other commodities will soon follow.

PRDP South Luzon PSO Director Arnel de Mesa and CALABARZON Regional Project Coordination Office Project Director Felix Ramos signed the document along with the Department of Agriculture’s various attached agencies, namely, Philippine Coconut Authority, Fertilizers and Pesticide Authority, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, National Irrigation Administration, National Dairy Authority, Philippine Carabao Center, Agricultural Training Institute, and Bureau of Agricultural Research.

Moreover, regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Batangas State University also signed the MOU.

In CALABARZON, the province of Batangas is the second biggest recipient of PRDP investment, in terms of total number of subprojects and cost, after Quezon. There are eight infrastructure and enterprise subprojects, being procured and implemented in the province with a total project cost of P195.22 million. The implementing LGUs for these subprojects are the provincial government, Tanauan City government, and Lobo municipal government. The total individual beneficiaries of all subprojects are 12,152 with 49% (5,915) women.

###(Lawrence Albert Bariring, DA-PRDP CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Governor Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas, Director Arnel de Mesa, CESO IV of South Luzon PSO, Director Felix Ramos of CALABARZON RPCO and other directors and representatives of different agencies signed copies of the MOU for interagency convergency on the use of Batangas’ PCIP.