The Department of Agriculture (DA) has quietly put on the ground a novel project in partnership with local government units in 779 of the poorest towns in 41 provinces from the Southern Tagalog Region, Bicol, Eastern Visayas and the whole of Mindanao.
This is the Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector (InfRES) funded with a U.S. 150 million dollars (roughly P7 billion) supervised loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) plus counterpart funding by the national government and local government partners.
Undersecretary for Field Operations and Infres Project Director Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras, in his report to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, said that the physical infrastructure component of the project, as of June 30 this year, was 60 percent complete.
Of the targeted 1,478 kilometers of farm-to-market roads, 1,039 kilometers are either finished or in final stages of completion, representing 70 percent.
The communal irrigation system component has completed the repair of a 1,454 hectares or 100 percent of the revised target, while 18 out of the targeted 37 potable water systems have been built representing 49 percent.
The two other components of the project include capability building of local government units (LGUs), beneficiary communities, non-government organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations and the DA, and project management coordination that facilitates project implementation.
The bulk of the funding, Paras said, went into the roads, irrigation systems and potable water systems which got U.S. 109 million dollars from the ADB, national government and local governments.
In all, Paras reported, 148 contract packages were awarded. Of these, 47 have been completed and 96 are in various stages of construction, one under contract review and four contract packages have been canceled due to the failure of the concerned LGUs in complying with project requirements.
Released funds have totaled P998,588,842 or roughly one seventh of the total loan. Three fourths of the released fund have been liquidated.
Paras said that all of the sub-projects were closely monitored through consultation visits by DA Regional Field Units whose technical staffs helped local governments fix engineering, financial and other concerns.
The progress of each of the sub-projects were all documented with photos and video images in close coordination with ADB.
According to Infres Program Manager Director Roy M. Abaya, “for the roads and irrigation systems to gain maximum impact in the fight against rural poverty, the partner towns were required to draw their own agriculture intensification plans (AIP) which they are bound to implement.â€
Lessons drawn from towns that have prepared and implemented their plans have been used in developing a template for those who are yet to draw their own plans as part of the whole development package, Abaya added. (PNA)
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