As part of the 15^th World Bank Implementation Support Mission to the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project, the World Bank and National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) team embarked on a trip to the province of Tarlac to visit two (2) enterprise subprojects located in the municipalities of Moncada and La Paz, yesterday, April 11.

Led by WB Agriculture Policy Planning and Business Specialist Agnès Deshormes, the visit aimed to look into the progress and impact of the PRDP-funded subprojects and gather information on the cooperatives’ practices and ways of sustaining the development of the subprojects.

In Moncada, they visited the “Provision of Custom Service and Establishment of Processing Center and Storage Facility for Sweetpotato in the Province of Tarlac” subproject that aims to increase the income of sweetpotato farmers by increasing the production of dried sweetpotato chips supplied to San Miguel Food Inc., the coop’s primary market for processed chips, which is being used as an alternative feed ingredient for aquaculture feeds. It is operated by the Sapang Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SMPC).

In La Paz, they inspected the “Establishment of Mungbean Trading Post with Custom Service Facilities in the Province of Tarlac” subproject that targets to create an income-generating project as a source of livelihood for the farmer members and non-members in the municipality and at the same time increase the production of mungbean in the province. It is owned by the Caut Farmers Field School Marketing Cooperative (CFFSMC).

During the visit, the team was able to observe the implementation of the subprojects, including their production process, interact with the Proponent Groups (PGs), farmer members and beneficiaries involved, and LGU representatives, inspect the physical status of subproject facilities and equipment, and check the pertinent documents concerning the enterprise subproject operations.

Each visit to the two subprojects was capped off with an open forum with the PGs and other stakeholders to further discuss and assess their practices and experiences on some crucial topics, such as access to credit and financing programs, consolidation, marketing, market linkage, among others, to which Ms. Deshormes also provided recommendations to address some challenges raised.

Ms. Deshormes thanked the two participating PGs for their active participation in the activity as she was able to gather data and information on the progress and impact of the subprojects. She also recognized their continued effort to ensure that the subprojects funded by the World Bank would continue to prosper to benefit more farmers.

Meanwhile, the PGs also expressed their gratitude to the WB and the DA-PRDP for providing support to their business that aims to uplift the lives of more farmers in the province of Tarlac.

The WBISM is an assessment activity conducted to the DA-PRDP to review its performance and assess its accomplishments, physical and financial, as well as the emerging impacts of the project derived from the implementation of infrastructure and enterprise subprojects in support of the development of agriculture sector in the country. The 15^th ISM is set to run from April 11 to 21, 2023.