The Talavera Municipal Project Management and Implementation Unit (MPMIU) from the province of Nueva Ecija underwent a re-orientation and workshop on the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) Scale-Up guidelines, facilitated by the Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO 3), on June 7-8, 2023

Led by Action Officer Engr. Michael Manansala, the DA-PRDP team aims to provide the MPMIU technical assistance on the preparation of the subproject requirements based on the World Bank guidelines prior the review of their proposed 120,000-bag capacity onion cold storage to be funded under the infrastructure development component, I-BUILD.

The proposed P260-M onion cold storage by the municipality of Talavera, led by the Municipal Mayor Nerito Santos Jr., is one of the first subprojects to be endorsed by the DA-PRDP RPCO 3 for funding under the DA-PRDP Scale-Up.

The proposed facility is seen to benefit more small farmers in the top onion producing province in the country— offering affordable storage fees and help in stabilizing the fluctuating price of onion in the market. 

According to the 2020 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Central Luzon is the top producing region for onion with a 63.7 percent share in the national production, with the majority of it coming from Nueva Ecija. In response to the high demand of support to the onion industry, the DA-PRDP already  has a total of six approved subprojects involving cold storage facilities in the region. (Ram Bill Bautista, RPCO3 InfoACE)