The Philippine Rural Development Project’s (PRDP) infrastructure development component has generated 4,483 employment opportunities in South Luzon since 2014, according to data from the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Of the total jobs generated, 1,750 were technical or specialized work, while 2,733 were nontechnical or unskilled work.
The DA said about 1,529 individuals were employed in Region 4-A, 805 in Region 4-B and 2,149 in Region 5.
PRDP South Luzon Project Support Office (PSO) Director Shandy Hubilla said this increase is in line with the PRDP’s thrust to improve the livelihood and incomes of the people in the rural communities through its subprojects.
“Employment opportunities are on the rise in South Luzon as the number of PRDP infrastructure and enterprise subprojects in the cluster increases,” the DA said.
Meanwhile, data from the PSO showed the South Luzon Cluster’s I-REAP or enterprise development component will generate employment opportunities for at least 688 individuals.
About 120 will be employed in Region 4-A, 169 in Region 4-B and 399 in Region 5.
“You don’t give somebody money without expecting something in return,” Douglas Forno, Institutional Specialist of the Food and Agriculture Organization said.
The World Bank specialist also said it would like to see a greater number of people in the communities to benefit from the PRDP.
According to the DA, employment and capacity-building opportunities are only some of the emerging benefits of the project.
“We want to attract more talents to be involved in agricultural enterprises and bring the pride back to the agriculture sector through innovations, skills development, and competitive pay that would most importantly contribute to the enterprises’ achievement of their socioeconomic goals,” PSO I-REAP Component Head Manolo Luis Herrera said.
The DA said the project cost of approved infrastructure and enterprise development subprojects in the South Luzon Cluster has reached P2.708 billion.
The cluster has the second biggest approved portfolio on sub projects after the Mindanao Cluster.
