The Philippine government has scheduled on July 2023 the launching, through the Department of Agriculture (DA), of a World Bank (WB) funded rural development program for farmers and fishers.
The WB country director stressed to the DA officials during its recent meeting, the significance of designating July as timeline for the launching of the PRDP Scale-Up project – costing $827.48 million. Of these, the WB will provide $600 million financing through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), while $227,48 million will be financed by the Philippines.
According to the WB “. . . the PRDP Scale-Up project “would bring a strategic shift through a greater emphasis to bring transformative changes in value chains to improve farmers and fisherfolks profitability and enhance value chain efficiencies.” Considered as a build-up to an existing 8-year old PRDP, the latest Scale-Up version “will focus more on public infrastructure interventions to improve value chain connectivity and efficiencies, as well as support private sector-led common service facility development and operations. Likewise, the program will focus on catalyzing the start-up, expansions and business orientation of micro to medium-scale agri-fishery enterprises.
MY COMMENT
It’s a gratifying to note that recent events have shown compassion to the marginalized farmers and fishers who break their backbones in order to bring food to the Filipino families’ tables, send children to schools, etc. The shabby treatment felt by the lowly agricultural workers is more or less reduced when opportunities like the WB funded project has identified the farmers and fishers as beneficiaries.
It is hoped that more assistances are extended to the agricultural workers, viz, restore, accelerate higher production of farm products, rice, corn, coconut, etc. I would be most grateful to the Lawmakers should they shift from quantity to quality legislation-making, Instead, especially focusing on agriculture crops production and showing concerns to the farmers and fishers, among others.
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