The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday said it is seeking to secure more funding for investments in the agriculture sector.

“Your department is working at finding other funding sources from official development partners to implement necessary and relevant interventions needed to address critical sectoral and institutional challenges and investment gaps,” DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.

He said the DA has lobbied for infrastructure projects to the French government, particularly farm-to-market roads and bridges.

The proposal aims to address the infrastructure gaps for efficient links, transport, and distribution of agricutural commodities, he said.

He also proposed a project to provide funding increments to boost DA’s programs under the World Bank’s Program for Results or P4R.

According to the DA, the P4R project is part of the World Bank’s strategy “to expand the impact of development interventions through a results-oriented approach.”

Tiu Laurel cited the focus on cold storage facilities to prevent post-harvest losses and challenges posed by overproduction.

“We will be building food terminals along with cold storage facilities that will also be strategically established regionally. These facilities are very crucial to address the food logistical cold chain issues,” he said.

He stressed the need for stronger collaboration with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to expedite the implementation of the Philippine Solar-powered Irrigation project.

At least 8,000 units are targeted to be installed nationwide to boost the farm’s access to irrigation which will eventually increase local yield. (PNA)