The Agriculture Department said Tuesday the Philippine Rural Development Project will now accept proposals for small livelihood projects in areas damaged by typhoon Lando in Northern Luzon.
The projects, proposed by local government units, aim to help farmers and fishers recover lost or damaged livelihoods in areas affected by calamities, such as typhoons and earthquakes.
The DA said the livelihood projects would be implemented under the enterprise development component of the PRDP, or I-REAP.
PRDP national deputy project director Arnel de Mesa said unlike other sub-projects proposed under the I-REAP component, SLPs require less stringent measures for approval.
“For instance, newly established agri-based cooperatives and associations are allowed to be proponent groups for SLPs that cost up to a maximum of P1 million,” de Mesa said.
He said the proposed SLPs do not require PRDP tools such as the value chain analysis, or VCA, and provincial commodity investment plan, or PCIP, to be approved, since the goal of SLPs was to help farmers and fishers quickly recover from losses due to calamities.
The VCA is a tool used to assess the status and the linkages and interplay of different value chain players of a particular industry.
From the VCA, provincial local government units will prepare a PCIP, which is a strategic three-year rolling plan containing possible interventions to be undertaken by a province for priority commodities.
De Mesa, however, said just like the other enterprise development sub-projects proposed under the PRDP, a 20 percent equity from the provincial or municipal government is required.
“These SLPs are short-gestating projects so affected farmers and fishers can easily bounce back from their losses,” de Mesa said.
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said it would be ideal for the provincial governments to propose for assistance on the production and marketing of high-value crops widely grown in the areas of Luzon.
“As we have established trading centers in some of areas in North Luzon including Benguet and Isabela, farmers will have a market where they can deliver their produce,” Alcala said.
The PRDP is a six-year project funded through a loan from World Bank, with equities from the national government and local government units.
The project is the government’s main platform for rural development that aims to improve the rural economy.