The Department of Agriculture (DA) has launched a novel project in partnership with the local governments of 779 of the poorest towns in 41 provinces of Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, and Mindanao.

The project named Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector (InfRES) was funded with a $150-million (roughly P7-billion) supervised loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) plus counterpart funding by the national government and local government partners.

In a report to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Undersecretary for Field Operations and Infres Project Director Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras, said that the physical infrastructure component of the project, as of June 30 this year, was 60 percent complete.

Of the targeted 1,478 kilometers of farm-to-market roads, 1,039 kilometers are either finished or in final stages of completion representing 70 percent. The communal irrigation system component has completed the repair of a 1,454 hectares or 100 percent of the revised target, while 18 out of the targeted 37 potable water systems have been built, representing 49 percent.

The two other components of the project include capability building of LGUs, beneficiary communities, non-government organizations, people’s organizations, and the DA, and project management coordination that facilitates project implementation.

The bulk of the funding, Paras said, went into the roads, irrigation systems, and potable water systems which got $109 million from the ADB, the national government, and local governments.