DA seeks foreign funding in agri sector investments

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is actively seeking funding support from the country’s international development partners to augment investments in the Philippine 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,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement.

Tiu Laurel said the DA recognizes that the government has limited resources to undertake major projects such as seaports, roads and bridges, and irrigation that are needed to modernize agriculture and improve the income of farmers and fishermen.

The Agriculture chief added that the development of farm-to-market roads and bridges has been proposed to the French government “to improve the infrastructure linking farm production sites, fisheries, coastal landing points, and post-harvest facilities to markets and major highways.”

He said the project will also facilitate trade to ensure smooth and efficient movement of agricultural products to reduce trade barriers and develop a more effective value chain for food and agricultural commodities to ensure they reach their destinations more efficiently.

The Agriculture chief added the program is expected to address significant infrastructure gaps that currently hinder the efficient distribution of agricultural goods.

Moreover, Tiu Laurel said the Agriculture Department is also proposing a project under the World Bank’s Program for Results (P4R) to provide incremental funding to accelerate the DA’s initiatives and enhance the impact of its programs, and emphasize achieving sustainable outcomes and building institutional capacity.

He said that the World Bank’s P4R approach uses government systems and procedures rather than the Bank’s, streamlining the process and focusing on tangible results.

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

Tiu Laurel, likewise, underscored the DA’s collaboration with the National Irrigation Administration, which has been recently transferred to the Office of the President to fastback irrigation projects, in pushing forward with the Philippine Solar-Powered Irrigation Project that will initially install 8,000 units across the country to provide farms with rapid access to irrigation, boost harvest and increase farm yields.

The DA chief cited efforts to expand the cold chain storage network to address issues of overproduction and post-harvest losses, particularly in high-value crops.

“In addition, 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,” Tiu Laurel said. --VAL, GMA Integrated News