The roll-out of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) in North Luzon has opened the gateway to a modernized, value-chain oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. With the infrastructures and enterprises to be funded and implemented under the Project, employment opportunities continue to flourish among rural farmers and locals.

Comprising of Regions 1, 2, 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the cluster was able to identify 9,581 jobs to be generated from the existing infrastructure subprojects being worked on by the I-BUILD component, according to the Project Support Office (PSO) Economist James Sabio.

This covers the 2014 infrastructure subprojects that will employ 1,516 skilled/technical workers and 2,719 unskilled workers.

2,271 skilled workers are to be generated from the 2015 infrastructure subprojects of the cluster, while 3,075 are unskilled.

Meanwhile the 97 existing jobs under the Enterprise Development Component are seen to increase to more than 700 through the enterprises submitted to the PSO. Some 1,060 will also be hired from the civil works of the component – 478 of which are skilled and 583 are unskilled.

“We are delighted by the deliberate efforts of the regional and provincial offices, as well as the contractors in generating job opportunities that will uplift the lives of the rural communities,” said Sabio.

As the World Bank-funded Project reaches its third year of implementation, its implementers are now focusing further on the impact of the subprojects and how it may generally aide the rural farmers and fisher folk.

“We will work hand-in-hand in enabling more communities and strive harder in expanding more opportunities,” said PRDP Luzon A Project Director Andrew Villacorta.

PRDP is a special program of the Department of Agriculture jointly funded by World Bank, national government and the local government units that aims to elevate farmers and fisher folks’ income through an inclusive, market-oriented and climate-resilient agri-fishery sector in targeted project areas nationwide. (Kayla Arceo, PSO Luzon A InfoACE)