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 Monday.

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

He said 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 PHP17 billion 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 PHP11.44 billion, 30 of which are already under construction, and 60 proposed enterprise sub-projects amounting to PHP6.31 billion,” 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 yung ating (our) post-harvest facility for both rice and corn. And the other one is the cold storage for fishery and for consolidation ng ating mga (of our) vegetables,” he said in a separate ambush interview.

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

Under the program, 503 rural infrastructures amounting to PHP31 billion and PHP2.93 billion worth of 667 rural enterprises were completed thus far, according to Manalo.

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

More ports for agri commodities

Meanwhile, the DA said it plans to operate more ports to improve logistics for agricultural commodities nationwide.

“This will be all over the country. Ang lead natin dito is yung (Our lead here is the) Philippine Fishery Development Authority (PFDA),” Navarro said.

Besides PFDA, other agencies also volunteered some of their ports to be used for DA’s targets for port operations.

“Mayroong kasing DOTr o PPA (Department of Transportation or Philippine Ports Authority) na mga ports na hindi masyadong ginagamit nila at ibibigay nila ang (there are DOTr or PPA ports that are not very much used and they will give the) rights for DA to operate,” Navarro said.

“And there are also ports that are operated by CIIF (Coconut Industry Investment Fund-Oil Mills Group), yung ating mga (the) coconut plantations or plants before that is closed down. But there is already an existing infrastructure for ports we also would like to operate.” (PNA)