All five provinces in the MIMAROPA region showed their support for the upcoming PRDP Scale-Up during the series of orientations held by the Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) in the whole month of March 2023.

Each two-day orientation comprised  of the project orientation on the first day and a series of breakout sessions on the second day, comprising  Business Model Formulation, PCIP Updating/Enhancing, LGU Module Encoding, and Site Validation, respectively.

Each event was attended by both previous project recipient LGUs, who shared their best practices and lessons learned, and newcomer LGUs, who raised questions and concerns to secure SPs for their respective municipalities.

In her recorded speech, Regional Project Director Engr. Maria Christine Inting, MPM encouraged the municipalities to take advantage of the new funding, especially since bigger clustered groups can benefit and mobilize.

“Our investments will now shift to the clustered and consolidated farmer and fisher associations as we want to address the market’s demands and the country’s food security. Clustering and consolidation have proven to achieve economies of scale where we can avoid overproduction and spoilage, which have been a long-time challenge for farmers and fishers,” Engr. Inting shared.

PRDP Scale-Up is a program grounded on the lessons learned from PRDP Phase 1, with a strengthened emphasis on addressing gaps in value chains, climate resilience, and a more modernized agri-fishery sector. It also aims to strengthen the productive alliance with the private sector to provide long-term sustainable markets for the project’s enterprises.

To date, MIMAROPA has 54 PRDP subprojects benefiting more than 220,000 farmers in the region. The subproject includes 23 I-BUILD infrastructures amounting to Php1.7 billion and 31 I-REAP enterprises amounting to Php407 million. (Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Occidental Mindoro Orientation in Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro, March 30-31.

Oriental Mindoro Orientation in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, March 28-29.

Palawan Orientation in Puerto Princesa City, March 23.

Romblon Orientation in Romblon, Romblon, March 14-15

Marinduque Orientation in Boac, Marinduque, March 7-8, 2023