Another subproject might soon come from the Cavite area as the municipal government of Maragondon met with the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) CALABARZON last September 24 for an orientation.

Maragondon, a third-class municipality in Cavite, is largely an agricultural town. With the biggest land area in the province, a diverse number of commodities are being planted and harvested here. The local government sees that investing in the agricultural industry is one of the best ways to uplift the municipality’s communities.

Six commodities with Value Chain Analysis (VCA) are grown in the town such as banana, coffee, mango, coconut, cacao, and lowland vegetables. The VCAs are needed by the province in crafting their commodity investment plan which is a requirement of PRDP to fund proposed infrastructure and enterprise subprojects.

“Ang problema kasi ng aming mga magsasaka dito eh mababa ang kuha ng mga buyer o trader sa kanila. Gusto naming mapataas ang competitiveness ng mga magsasaka dito. Nais din naming na matulungan sila na makapag value-adding sa mga ani nila para naman madagdagan at tumaas pa ang kanilang kita (The problem is that buyers or traders get products from our farmers at a low price. We want to increase the competitiveness of farmers in Maragondon. We also want to help them add value to their products so that their income will increase),” Maragondon Mayor, Reynaldo Rillo, said.

During the discussion, Mary Jane Rayosa of Local and National Level Planning Component discussed the possible subprojects based on Cavite’s PCIP while Juneliza Pandela of Enterprise Development Component and Engr. Isagani Reyes of Infrastructure Development Component presented the processes and procedures for enterprise and infrastructure subproject proposals, respectively.

According to Maragondon LGU, they will soon send a Letter of Intent for them to avail subprojects from PRDP, specifically for an enterprise for their banana industry.

Currently, there is only one enterprise subproject in Cavite province which is the coffee processing and trading subproject of Café Amadeo Development Cooperative in Amadeo, Cavite that is worth P12.73-million. ### (Rowell Llagas, DA-PRDP CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)

During the courtesy call, the PRDP team explain to Mayor Reynaldo Rillo the activity and what the Project is all about.

Mayor Reynaldo Rillo of Maragondon, Cavite shows great interest in PRDP while the I-REAP Component presented their requirements and processes.