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Cabinet approves P3 billion loan for Cordillera aggie development
BY DEXTER A SEE

BAGUIO CITY – The Cabinet committee of the National Economic Development Authority – Investment Coordinating Committee recently approved the implementation of the second phase of the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management project amounting to $66.5 million or over P3 billion in the next seven years.

However, Augusto B. Santos, NEDA Acting Director-General and co-chair of the NEDA-ICC Cabinet committee, told Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap that before the NEDA Board formally approves the project, the Dept. of Agriculture must first comply with several requirements to ensure that the project will be in accordance with the peoples way of doing things and the establishment of strict monitoring mechanisms.

The cabinet committee required the DA to submit concrete indicators to show significant changes arising from the first phase of the CHARM project which was implemented in selected areas of the region as well as interventions and which best practices or lessons learned are intended to be replicated under the second phase of the project.

In line with the adoption of the convergence approach particularly in the provision of rural infrastructure, a mapping or inventory of existing and planned farm to market roads for the second phase of CHARM project sites by the three rural development agencies.

The $66.5 million earmarked for the agriculture development project in the Cordillera will be sourced from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - $27.12 million; Asian Development Bank (ADB) - $10 million; OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) - $10 million; counterpart of Local Government Units (LGUs) - $8.853 million; counterpart of beneficiaries - $5.029 million and counterpart of the Department of Agriculture - $5.434 million.

The second phase of the CHARM project was expanded to the six provinces of the Cordillera to ensure that farmers in the rural areas would enjoy the benefits of improved infrastructure that would uplift their living standards once the project ends in the next seven years.

Earlier, the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the region strongly endorsed the implementation of the foreign-assisted agriculture project and requested Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and Secretary Yap to ensure the availability of funds as the government’s counterpart for the project.

At the same time, the DA was required by the Cabinet committee to submit to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) the certified budget strategy for the subject project.

Juan Ngalob, NEDA-CAR regional director and interim chairman of the RDC pointed out that the implementation of projects under the second phase of CHARM would compliment the fragile projects implemented under the first phase of the foreign-assisted agriculture development project.

Thirty seven towns in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Mountain province, Ifugao and Kalinga will directly benefit from CHARM II.