DAVAO CITY, May 17 – President Benigno S. Aquino III described the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) as one program that promotes inclusive growth and good governance.
Aquino made the statement as he addressed on Monday the gathering of farmers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples and rural women during DA-MRDP People’s Organizations Congress held in Davao City.
“Pagdating po sa kaunlaran, walang sinuman ang dapat maiwan—‘yan po ang bisyon natin. Ito ay hindi tinutupad ng isang tao o isang institusyon lamang; nagbubukal ito sa mabuting pamamahala at sa pakikiisa ng pamahalaan at taumbayan (Our vision is to promote inclusive growth. It cannot be implemented by one man or one institution alone but it is a fruit of good governance and the concerted efforts of the government and the people),” the President said.
“Sa tulong ng MRDP, itinataguyod natin ang pagkakaroon ng sapat na pagkain sa hapag ng bawat pamilya, ang pagkakaloob ng disenteng trabaho, at marangal na pamumuhay (With the help of MRDP, we continue to provide enough food in every table, provide decent job and a dignified living,” he added.
MRDP is a long-term poverty-alleviation initiative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) jointly funded by the World Bank, national government, and local government units covering Mindanao’s 26 provinces and 225 municipalities.
It seeks to further improve rural incomes and achieve food security through agri-fishery infrastructure, livelihood enterprise, and biodiversity conservation projects.
In line with this year’s celebration of the Farmers’ and fisherfolk’s Month, the program convened recently some 1,500 members of the various people’s organizations who benefited agri-fishery livelihood projects under the Community Fund for Agricultural Development component.
“The MRDP has shown it has succeeded in mobilizing communities for agricultural development in Mindanao. It has successfully established through its various projects farm-to-market roads, bridges, water systems and solar dryers as well as other agri-fishery infrastructure in the rural areas,” the President said, adding that MRDP has contributed much in the country’s campaign to attain “freedom from hunger.”
Transparency, good governance
Aquino also cited the program’s trailblazing initiative of using the ‘geotagging technology’ to prevent duplication and bogus implementation of infrastructure projects.
“Gamit ang “geo-tagging, nababantayan at nasusuri ang pagsasakatuparan ng ating pong mga proyekto. Matutukoy dito ang mga overlapping road projects, at kung may hokus-pokus na nangyayari. (With the aid geotagging, we can now closely watch and monitor the implementation of projects. With this technology we identify overlapping of projects and avoid hocus-pocus activities),” the President stressed.
He also cited the strong and broad-based support of various stakeholders of the MRDP alluded to the program’s transparent and clear-cut policies and procedures particularly in its procurement and financial management.
“Mataas po ang kompiyansa ng ating mga kababayan sa ating programa dahil kitang-kita ang pag-unlad ng mga sakop na komunidad. Tunay pong kapag ang pondo ay matuwid na ginugugol, at nakakasabay sa pag-asenso ang Pilipino, ganado silang makilahok sa ating pong mga proyekto (there is high confidence in the program because of the evident improvement of the communities. Once funds are spent to where they are intended, people are encouraged to support the project),” he added.
Program Accomplishments
In its recent report to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, the program has earmarked a total of P1.3 billion for various livelihoods benefiting about 124,000 households all over Mindanao.
There are already 3,712 agri-based livelihoods funded. Some 1,605 were completed, 574 are still on-going and 584 are ready for implementation and the rest are under preparatory stage.
While the infrastructure component has allotted P4.89 billion for agricultural infrastructure that included 386 farm-to-market roads with a total length of 1,433.01 kilometers amounting PhP 3,585.80 million; 29 bridges with total length of 929 linear meters costing PhP 293.63 million; 31 communal irrigation subprojects with a total service area of 7,092 hectares costing PhP 667.14 million; 51 potable water supply (PWS) costing PhP 308.08 million; and 17 solar dryers with warehouses costing PhP 30.62 million.
The program has also assisted a total of 1,929 barangays in packaging their barangay development plans (BDP), one of the bases for project prioritization and approval.
Under its natural resources management component, 90 projects have been laid on the ground including mangrove rehabilitation, agro-forestry projects, fish sanctuary and riverbank stabilization projects.
Of the total number, 24 subprojects were completed costing PhP 39.825 million; 36 on-going amounting to PhP 78.872 million, and 30 amounting to PhP 49.232 million are ready for implementation. (DA-MRDP/Sherwin B. Manual)
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