Planning for the mainstreaming of the best practices, tools, and innovations of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to the Department of Agriculture-Bicol’s banner programs are now in progress. 

DA-Bicol Regional Executive Director and concurrent PRDP Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) Project Director Rodel Tornilla steered the mainstreaming activity during the DA Banner Program Coordinators, Report Officers and PRDP Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) V Meeting held recently at the DA Regional Field Office in Brgy. San Agustin, Pili, Camarines SurHe urged the banner program coordinators and report officers to integrate PRDP’s processes in the planning and implementation of DA’s Rice, Corn, Livestock and High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) projects. 

Among PRDP’s science-based tools and innovations that are ready for mainstreaming are the value chain analysis (VCA) and the updated Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP). The said tools will be used as basis in the planning and budgeting of the Field Operations Division (FOD), particularly in translating the existing roadmaps for Bicol’s flagship commodities into programs, projects, and activities (PPAs). In addition, FOD plans to adopt the VCA process in crafting a development plan for rice, corn and vegetables. 

Also, DA PRDP-Bicol will coordinate with the Regional Agricultural Engineering Division (RAED) in mainstreaming the mobile Operation and Maintenance Audit System (OMAS) using KoBoCollect, a free open-source tool being used to collect and manage mobile data. Moreover, the Information, Advocacy, Communication and Education (InfoACE) and Monitoring and Evaluation Units will be collaborating with the DA-Bicol Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Change Adaptation (DRR-CCA) team to develop a knowledge management dashboard that will complement the project’s existing web-based Management Information System (MIS) by providing real time project implementation and mainstreaming status.

Component and unit heads, as well as their representatives, also presented their respective updates about their implementation status, activities and mainstreaming milestones during the said meeting. As of November 24, 2022, PRDP RPCO V has a total of 81 subprojects (SPs). About 60.49 percent or 49 SPs were already completed, 27.16 percent or 22 SPs are ongoing while 18.51 percent or 15 SPs are under procurement. 

Under infrastructure development (I-BUILD), PRDP RPCO V has 18 completed SPs, of which 15 are funded under the original loan while three SPs are under additional financing 1 (AF1) amounting to a total of PhP1.47 billion with 163,054 project beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the enterprise development (I-REAP) component has 28 completed subprojects worth over PhP140 million with 17,788 project beneficiaries in the region. 

“I hope you will continue our passion, our attitude in implementing these projects. Let us continue to do what we can because of all the projects being implemented by the Department of Agriculture, PRDP has one of the biggest impacts in the lives of our clients,” Tornilla said. (Annielyn L. Baleza, PRDP RPCO V InfoACE Unit with reports from Michelle Jan B. Sapalaran and Aguinaldo C. Francisco Jr., PRDP RPCO V M&E Unit)

Photo Credits: Michelle Angela G. Alfigura, PRDP RPCO V InfoACE Unit