The Department of Agriculture Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) Planning (I-PLAN) team has started to mainstream value chain analysis (VCA) into DA regular plans and programs.

Planners from the Provincial and Municipal local government units (LGUs) as well as staff from DA banner programs including High Value Crops Development, Rice Program, Organic Agriculture and Livestock Program took part in the training on VCA preparation, to orient and train them on commodity and product prioritization, data collection and analysis, and value chain mapping on June 1-3 in Naga City.

According to PRDP South Luzon Director Shandy M. Hubilla, PRDP is DA’s “crowning achievement.” He lauded the I-PLAN Bicol for being proactive in trying to rally to support PRDP undertakings.

“This is really our objective aside from increasing farmers’ income, it’s really about mainstreaming PRDP into the regular budget. The PRDP is the way to go for the DA. Eventually the tools, the framework that we are using and we are utilizing will be adopted by all of DA,” Hubilla said.

Hubilla recognized the I-PLAN’s efforts to involve not just the regular DA programs but also major stakeholders such as the LGUs. He mentioned that bilaterally, DA and the LGU are committing to fund the resources indicated in the PCIP in the next three or six years to develop the particular commodity value chains.

“It’s not just on paper that we are trying to mainstream but we are actually doing it. The goal is to align our budget with our plans and vice versa. Therefore, DA, not just the PRDP, should be able to support that particular commodity and the good thing is we are already going beyond DA and LGU. We are already enlisting the full participation and commitment of other agencies relevant to rural development,” he added.

VCA, a planning tool being used by the DA-PRDP, is the study of commodities from “seed to shelf” including all stages and logistics to attract markets. VCAs are being done on agricultural commodities which were prioritized according to suitability, market potential, impact on the poor and involvement of farmer-stakeholders. The Project uses VCA as a tool in outlining investments in areas critical to the value chain.

PRDP South Luzon I-PLAN Component Head Rey B. Lara stated that VCA shows the current state of the industry and where to locate projects. It also provides recommendations as basis for policy-making and programming. Under PRDP, Provincial Commodity investment Plans (PCIP) and proposed infrastructure and business enterprise sub-projects should be anchored on an approved VCA.

“Through the result of the VCA analysis, titingnan natin what are the missing links or gaps in every segment. VCA comprises five functions–input provision, production, marketing, trading hanggang final sale. Bawat segment nito, may mga emerging gap, may mga critical factors na dun naka-focus ang investment ng government at investment ng private sector. So without the aid of the value chain analysis, what will be the basis of our planning?,” Lara underscored.

Currently, the PRDP I-PLAN is working on regional VCAs for organic rice, dairy cattle, tinapa or smoked fish, cut flower and laing or taro leaves. As of May 31, 2016, Bicol has completed 10 VCAs for its six provinces’ first and second priority commodities including coco geonets, coco sap sugar, abaca, coconut shell charcoal, pineapple, mangrove crab, sweet potato, cassava, live goat, and seaweeds. The region has also participated in the clusterwide VCA preparation for coco water and virgin coconut oil initiated by PRDP South Luzon.

PRDP is a six-year rural development project aimed at increasing farmers’ income in targeted Project areas through an inclusive, value chain-oriented, and climate-smart agriculture and fishery sector. (Annielyn L. Baleza, DA-PRDP RPCO V InfoACE Unit)

PRDP RPCO V Planning Specialist Mary Ann R. Cuya (in red) and Ronald B. Coprada of DA RFO V’s HVCDP (seated, 1st from left) assist the City Project Management and Implementing Unit of Naga City in preparing the value chain map and product process flow of cut flower as part of the workshop during the Training on VCA preparation Module 1 held on June 1-3, 2016 in Naga City.