PRDP MIMAROPA launched its first Business Investment Forum for prioritized commodities in the Province of Occidental Mindoro, May 7, 2024.

This Business Conference was held in the Provincial Capitol to support the swine, tuna, and onion industries in the province. This was attended by various Farmers’ Cooperatives and Associations (FCAs), Jollibee Food Corporation and the Universal Robina Corporation as representatives of the Private Agribusiness Entities (PAEs), and members of concerned government agencies and Local Government Units (LGUs).

Spearheaded by I-REAP Component Head Dr. Celso C. Olido, he stressed that these interventions are based on President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s mandate to improve the Value Chain of the Agriculture sector.

“Pagdating sa Agriculture, sabi ni PBBM, ayusin natin ang Value Chain ng Agriculture. Madaming problema from input supply, production, marketing, processing hanggang makarating sa consumer. ‘Yun ang inaayos ng PRDP. Value Chain Analysis ang pinagbabasehan ng intervention, inili-link natin ang mga grupo sa merkado,” explained Dr. Olido.

(When it comes to Agriculture, PBBM said that we need to fix the Value Chain. There are a lot of challenges from input supply, production, marketing, processing, until [the products reach] the consumers. This is what PRDP is trying to address. Interventions are based on Value Chain Analyses and FCAs are linked to the market.)

The Business Conference is one of the introduced activities in PRDP Scale-Up required for LGUs in order to be able to propose enterprise subprojects. Through Business Matching, the needs and assets of the FCAs are matched with those of the PAEs in order to secure sustainable enterprises. Once an FCA is matched with a PAE, the FAC then becomes eligible to propose for an enterprise subproject under the PRDP Scale-Up. #

I-REAP BDO Christine Pascua facilitating the business matching session between
onion FCAs and PAEs. (Photo by Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO
InfoACE Unit)