December 6, 2024

 

Scale-up of Philippine Rural Development Project to drive establishment of agricultural infrastructure in country

 

 

The scale-up of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) will help further boost investments and the establishment of agricultural infrastructure in the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said December 2.

 

"(The) scale-up was really designed to respond (for the) needs for investment mostly on agri-infrastructure and enterprises beyond what is really existing from the original design (of) PRDP," DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in an interview.

 

He added that the scaled-up PRDP intends to cover more investment and establishment of cold storages, slaughterhouses, and other agricultural infrastructure, among others.

 

DA Assistant Secretary for Operations and PRDP National Project Director U-Nichols Manalo, meanwhile, highlighted over ₱17 billion (US$290 million) worth of investment under the scaled-up PRDP.

 

"The recently launched PRDP Scale-Up already has a portfolio of 75 approved infrastructure sub-projects worth ₱11.44 billion (US$194 million), 30 of which are already under construction, and 60 proposed enterprise sub-projects amounting to ₱6.31 billion (US$108 million)," he said in a speech at the PRDP Scale-Up Exhibit at the DA Central Office in Quezon City.

 

DA Undersecretary for Operations Roger Navarro said they wanted to make the PRDP more "globally competitive" with more projects lined up.

 

"The most important is (our) post-harvest facility for both rice and corn. And the other one is the cold storage for fishery and for consolidation (of our) vegetables," he said in a separate interview.

 

The original PRDP, which will end this year, was launched to establish farm-to-market roads and bridges.

 

The PRDP scale-up, meanwhile, is set to roll until 2028.

- PNA