DA offers livelihood projects for farmers in Lando-hit areas

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture, through the World Bank-supported Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP), is now accepting proposals for small livelihood projects (SLPs) in areas in Northern Luzon that were affected by typhoon Lando.

The SLPs, that should be proposed by local government units, farmers cooperatives and fishers associations, should be able to help them immediately recover losses from the onslaught of the typhoon.

Upon approval, the SLPs would be funded and implemented under the enterprise development component of the PRDP known as I-REAP.

PRDP deputy project director Arnel de Mesa said unlike other sub-projects proposed under the I-REAP component of the PRDP, the department would be less strict with requirements for SLPs.

“For instance, newly-established agri-based cooperatives and associations are allowed to be proponent groups for SLPs that cost up to a maximum of P1 million,” he said.

Regular projects proposed under the I-REAP component of the PRDP should be undertaken by established cooperatives with stable market linkages. This is meant to make the new enterprises sustainable.

Like regular sub-projects under I-REAP, LGUs and cooperatives should have a 20 percent equity in the SLPs.

“These SLPs are short-gestating projects so affected farmers and fishers can easily bounce back from their losses,” said De Mesa. 

The SLPs would not require the conduct of value chain analysis (VCA) and the creation of a provincial commodity investment plan (PCIP) as is the case with regular enterprise projects.

The VCA is a tool used to assess the status and the linkages of different value chain players of a particular industry.

The results of the assessment would then be used to identify appropriate upgrading strategies and interventions that would contribute to the development and strengthening of the subject industry’s competitive advantage.

After the conduct of the VCA, LGU would then craft a PCIP, a three-year rolling plan containing possible interventions to be undertaken by a province for priority commodities.

Four SLPs amounting to almost P3 million have been approved in Visayas under the PRDP.

De Mesa said that for municipalities in Visayas affected by Typhoon Yolanda and the 2013 7.3-magnitude earthquake, proposals for SLPs would be accepted until 2016.