DA seeks $2-B fund for key Agri projects

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking to secure more than $2 billion or approximately P117.9 billion from multilateral lenders World Bank and Asian Development Bank and France to bankroll various projects for the agriculture sector.

Among the 12 to 14 projects lined up for the farm sector, the Philippine Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project may secure the largest funding of $1 billion if approved by the World Bank.

“This will become the single largest project within the department,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said in a press briefing on Monday.

“The goal of this project is to create disbursement-linked indicators wherein the department will commit to certain policy reforms within the government, within the [DA]. In return, there will be disbursement on the fund that can be used for priority projects of the president and the [agriculture] secretary,” he said in Filipino.

De Mesa said the Philippine Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project will be the first project in the country that will be under the World Bank’s Program-for-Results (PforR) financing, wherein it focuses on the outcome of implementing the government’s programs or policy reforms.

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The DA is expecting the loan agreement for this project to be signed by June next year and its effectivity a month later. De Mesa said the World Bank will conduct the pre-appraisal mission next week.

The agriculture official also said the World Bank has begun the scoping mission on another undertaking, the $300-million project called the MSME Access to Finance and Climate Resiliency Project, also for five years.