World Bank, inaprubahan ang $600-M loan para suportahan ang mga magsasaka at mangingisda sa Pinas

INAPRUBAHAN ng World Bank (WB)  ang  $600 million (₱33.2 bilyong piso) loan  nakatuon tungo sa pagtaas  ng market access at income  para sa  mahigit sa half a million na mangingisdang Filipino.

Almost 60% of the poor work in agriculture in the Philippines, so accelerating the growth of agriculture and fishery is vital for the country’s development overall and for poverty reduction,” ayon kay  Ndiamé Diop, WB country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, at Thailand.

“Improving access to markets will help farmers and fisherfolk in rural areas raise their incomes, provide for their families, and elevate their standards of living,”  dagdag na wika ni Diop.

“The loan is expected to make them possible by upscaling the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) launched in 2014,” ayon sa WB.

“This initiative [PRDP] has been instrumental in strengthening the agriculture and fisheries sectors, bolstering rural infrastructure, and enhancing connectivity,” ayon pa rin sa WB.

Ang  PRDP ay aktibo sa 80 lalawigan, sakop nito ang  640 munisipalidad, 32  lungsod at  633,000 magsasaka.

“The expansion aims to stimulate further growth in these critical sectors and strengthen the nation’s rural economy,” sinabi pa ng WB

Sa kabilang dako, sinabi naman ng international financial institution na ang PRDP scale-up  ay  “would improve the access of micro to medium-scale agricultural and fishery enterprises to resources, knowledge, income-generating activities, and the participation of women in the sector in these activities.”

“It will also finance post-harvest technologies, and climate-proof infrastructure “including more roads, bridges, irrigation systems, and post-harvest storage facilities such as warehouses, drying, and cold storage.” ayon pa rin sa WB.

Nauna rito, kapuwa nilagdaan ng Pilipinas at WB signed four loan agreements na nagkakalaga ng at $1.14 billion para pondohan ang inisyatiba  ukol  sa climate resilience, agricultural productivity, at  education.

Taong  2021, inaprubahan ng  WB ang  credit line na $280 million para palakasin ang  PRDP at inisyatiba  nito. (Daris Jose)