37 agri projects vie for ACEF funding

At least 37 projects are vying for funding from the Agircultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF), a special financing window created to help farmers' groups and agribusiness enterprises compete locally and globally under a liberalized trade environment.

Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara said the total amount of ACEF assistance sought by these projects has reached P362 million, exceeding the P153- million ACEF available as of end-1999. The funds are raised out of the in-quota tariffs collected from the importation of minimum access volumes (MAVs) of certain farm products.

"We are getting a tremendous response from farmers and agribusiness enterprises about ACEF, he said. "The challenge now is to determine which of these projects need priority assistance."

The DA chief said of the 37 accepted projects, 10 had already passed the initial screening made by the ACEF national technical committee. After a more thorough review, the fate of the 10 will be decided by the executive committee, which is set to convene for its first official meeting on March 13, Angara added.

The 10 "semi-processed" projects seeking approval include the Mountain Barangay Bongan Banana productivity and marketing project in Bohol, the Fortified NPK Organic Fertilizer manufacturing project in Cagayan Valley; the YES piggery and meatshop in Tacloban City, the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post expansion in Benguet; the Claveria Integrated Farm Cooperative (CIFC) corn and rice mill in Cagayan de Oro;

The Corporate Service Center of the Northern Mindanao Agro-industrial Fiber Processors Association in Cagayan de Oro; the post harvest facilities project in Central Luzon; the establishment of a feedmill extrusion plant in Pampanga; the Farmers' Cooperative Transit Market Project in Cagayan Valley; and the Northern Philippines Fruits and Vegetable marketing and development project in Nueva Ecija.

DA officials said the last project has the biggest financial requirement at P162 million. It is seeking P155.8 million from ACEF, and its proponent, the Cagayan Valley-Central Luzon-Cordillera (Cacencor) Fruits and Vegetables Marketing and Development Cooperative, is raising P6.2 million more from its own resources.

In a document submitted to the ACEF secretariat, the cooperative said it needed the big amount for its vegetable marketing and reforestation project through the use of commercial and fruit-bearing trees. --