By Hilda Austria/PNA
STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan — Three farmers associations in the province have received PHP13 million worth of agricultural machineries and capital from the World Bank, the Department of Agriculture, and the provincial government of Pangasinan, under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
The beneficiaries are the Alcala Onion Growers Multi-Purpose Cooperative; Urdaneta City Organic Farming Rice, Corn, Vegetable Growers Association; and Tugui Grande Fresh Produce Farmers Association (Bani, Pangasinan).
PRDP focal person Violy Laforteza said the farmers of the chosen associations also got other agricultural machinery also on Wednesday.
“The initial farm inputs were given to the farmers associations on December 2018 and the remaining amount of trading capital from the total PHP13 million will be released to them when they procure the produce of their members,” she said in an interview Thursday.
Laforteza explained that the PRDP in the province already received the enterprise development component, which is aimed at helping the farmers on the business side of agriculture.
“The chosen beneficiaries like the group in Alcala and Bani are supplying their agri-products to a big fast-food chain company; while the group in Urdaneta City is the pioneer of the agri-fair trade in the city,” she noted.
Laforteza said the World Bank (WB) extended PHP6.84 million, the DA had a counterpart fund of PHP2.28 million while the provincial government shelled out PHP4.51 million.
The PRDP focuses on expanding market access and improving competitiveness while introducing reforms in the internal operations of the DA, according to the DA-PRDP’s official website.
Meanwhile, the provincial government also distributed some 369 units of shallow tube wells and 108 units of small farm equipment or rechargeable sprays to various farmers and irrigators associations from various parts of the province.
“The shallow tube wells distributed to 366 farmers and irrigators’ associations are expected to serve an approximate number of 1,113 hectares of farmlands and will benefit a minimum of 1,855 Pangasinense farmers,” Provincial Agriculturist Dalisay Moya said.
