The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) in Mindanao reported Monday that it has completed 178 subprojects under its infrastructure development projects with a total cost of PHP9.34 billion in 2022.

In a statement, PRDP-Mindanao said 85 more subprojects totaling PHP3.85 billion are currently in different stages of preparation for immediate implementation under the Second Additional Financing and European Union Co-financing Grant (AF2-EU).

The PRDP-Mindanao is a six-year national project under the Department of Agriculture (DA) that aims to establish a modern, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.

“PRDP Mindanao participated in two successive trade expos in the latter half of 2022 with the Philippine Coffee Expo in September and the Cacao Congress in November. These expos allowed PRDP Mindanao to meet with other stakeholders and industry leaders for coffee and cacao and link up their partner cooperatives to industry buyers to open up trade agreements in the future,” it said.

The PRDP-Mindanao noted that the Philippine Coffee Expo has strengthened private sector partnerships with Nestle, Equilibrium, and the regional and provincial coffee councils such as in Sultan Kudarat province.

Meanwhile, PRDP-Mindanao said it managed to craft 36 approved value chain analysis (VCAs), which in turn resulted in 33 commodity investment plans used by local government units for the leveraging of their resources.

These VCAs, it said, have resulted in PHP72 billion worth of investments generated throughout Mindanao in both PRDP and non-PRDP-funded projects.

Additionally, PHP36.6 million worth of investments were made in support of implementing the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Plan (AFMP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

On enterprise development, PRDP-Mindanao completed 99 subprojects with a total cost of PHP457.7 million.

For 2023, PRDP-Mindanao said 49 additional subprojects are currently in different stages of implementation which when completed will be equivalent to PHP524.9 million in enterprise support throughout the island.

“With the AF2-EU grant, farmers and fisherfolk in Mindanao can look forward to more interventions to help increase their incomes and productivity,” it said.

Currently, PRDP-Mindanao has 46 approved subprojects worth PPP2.5 billion and another nine subprojects worth PHP155.6 million – all in different stages of preparation and implementation. (PNA)