For the whole day today, the planning and technical staff of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will finalize the listing of proposed projects to be included in the P2.1-B European Union-funded Mindanao Rise Program.
I have set three parameters in the prioritization of projects for funding:
1. Projects must contribute to reducing poverty in Mindanao by creating income earning or job opportunities, especially in the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector;
2. Projects must result in increased productivity, especially in food commodities to ensure sufficiency and affordability;
3. Projects must trigger the immediate economic recovery of Mindanao.
The program will be Area-Based, meaning specific areas especially those with high poverty incidence and great potentials for productivity, and Commodity-Based which intends to identify the major commodities produced in Mindanao needing support for added value.
Fisheries and Aquaculture is one of the commodities which I will push for funding support knowing of the great potential of this sector.
In my travels to the remotest areas of the country, even when I was Agriculture Secretary, I saw the squandering of opportunities in the fisheries and aquaculture sector simply because of the lack of a simple ice-making facility and cold storages.
Our seas are bountiful, especially with the institutionalisation of the Annual Closed Fishing Season in the major fishing grounds of the country, and the fishermen could catch more.
For so many years, however, this simple solution to the problem of lack of productivity in the fisheries and aquaculture sector has largely been ignored and neglected.
In Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, I saw large Tunas being preserved using only ice made from refrigerators.
The fishermen said they could catch more but they prefer not to because of the lack of ice.
Under the Mindanao Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Program which I propose, at least 22 major fishing grounds in the region – from Camiguin Island to Tawitawi, and even Balut Island near our border with Indonesia, will be provided with ice-making facilities, blast freezers (when feasible), cold storage and fish processing equipment.
Those located outside the power grid will be provided with Solar-Power Generating Units which could be funded by another EU Grant Fund under the Access to Sustainable Energy Program (ASEP).
All of these Fish Centers will be interconnected through a digital platform which will monitor the volume of daily catch and the classification.
The digital platform will serve as a virtual market which will identify where the catch could be marketed under the Mindanao Food Supply and Demand Map.
The other commodities which will be proposed for inclusion in the funding support are Coconut, Banana, Rubber, Corn, Organic Rice, High Value Crops and Vegetables.
With the needed support for processing and value adding, farmers and fishermen will earn more and are expected to produce more.
With poverty addressed and productivity enhanced, Mindanao’s economy which was stalled by the Pandemic, is expected to rev up and restart.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#TouchTheGroundFeelThePulse!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
(Photos and map of Mindanao were downloaded from public websites.)
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