The Department of Agriculture (DA) is fast tracking the implementation of three major projects in Mindanao that would boost productivity of the agriculture and fisheries sectors to help the region fully realize its potential as a prime agricultural hub.

Through the Second Additional Financing for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP-AF2), the DA aims to enhance the country’s food logistics and access, ensuring food security for Filipinos. This initiative builds on the achievements of the first PRDP and addresses the demands of the post-COVID era by supporting the DA’s agri-fishery recovery and ensuring a food-secure “Bagong Pilipinas.”

The DA-PRDP Scale-Up project is designed to tackle the persistent challenges in the agri-fishery sector by emphasizing clustering and consolidation as a strategy, enhancing private sector participation, and ensuring climate resilience in project interventions.

Meanwhile, the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) will sustainably increase agricultural productivity, resilience, and access to markets and services for organized farmer and fisherfolk groups in selected ancestral domains and value chains across Mindanao. This will be achieved by strengthening the capacities of local government units (LGUs) to address low incomes caused by weak marketing linkages and inadequate infrastructure in geographically isolated ancestral domains.

These projects will enable Mindanao to fully realize its potential as the Philippines’ prime agricultural hub, with the region currently accounting for 35.1 percent of the country’s total agricultural production.

“We thank the Department of Finance (DOF) for providing funds to finance the government counterpart for these ongoing foreign-assisted projects. This is a huge help for us since we are striving to complete them as soon as possible and according to schedule, so that Filipinos can benefit from them right away,” said DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa. ###