Rural dev't program to be implemented in 6 provinces

MANILA, Philippines - The proposed six-year P627 million Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) will initially be implemented in six provinces in Luzon and Visayas and all provinces covered by the extended Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP2), according to to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The PRDP shall cover the following regions: CALABARZON (Region 4A), MIMAROPA (Region 4B), Bicol Region (region 5), Western Visayas (Region 6), Central Visayas (Region 7) and Eastern Visayas (Region 8).

CALABARZON groups the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. MIMAROPA is composed of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan. Bicol region comprises Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon and Masbate.

Western Visayas comprises Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo. Central Visayas consists of the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor. Eastern Visayas comprises the provinces of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Western Samar and Southern Leyte.

The PRDP is intended to be an extension of the MRDP2 which is expected to be completed by 2014.

The MRDP is a five-year program of the DA intended to raise the income of farmers in 225 towns in Mindanao through infrastructure and farm assistance. The program was initially launched in 2007 for implementation until December 2012. The implementation was delayed to 2009 because of policy issues pertaining to the sharing of funds between the national government and local government units.

With the extension given by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the program is expected to be completed by 2014. Theprogram’s total funding of $123.90 million is sourced from the $83.752 million loan from the World Bank and the equity share of the national government and local government units.

The MRDP2 covers the provision of rural infrastructure, and the creation of Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD) components which will provide funding to agriculture-based livelihood projects.

The PRDP, in turn, is intended to be an extension of the MRDP2 nationwide. The projects under the PRDP will allow farmers to engage in higher-value processing of their produce.