The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gathered its project teams and partners for the midterm implementation of its Rural Agro-Enterprise Partnership for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID Growth) Project.
Gathered in General Santos City are around 60 members of DTI’s project implementing team together with its project partners to elicit recommendations and review the strategic activities and targets for 2023 and the remaining implementing period.
The RAPID Growth Project is a value chain-based development program being implemented by DTI which aims to increase the income of smallholder farmers, and unemployed rural men and women through the provision of enabling interventions that will lead to the sustained growth of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the establishments of backward linkages with players in the coffee, cacao, coconut, and processed fruits and nuts industry clusters.
Now in its third year of implementation, the project covers the 21 provinces with high prevalence of poverty in the regions of Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, SOCCSKSARGEN, Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Flora Politud-Gabunales, OIC Regional Director of DTI-12, welcomed the delegates to Region 12 and expressed her gladness, together with the DTI-12 team, to host for the first time the Project Coordination Meeting of RAPID.
Among the specific agenda for the two-day event are to present the project’s overall and regional operation plans for 2023, present and validate the project’s progress, agree on targets for the remaining implementation duration, and prepare for the upcoming midterm review of the project implementation.
“This RAPID Growth Project Coordination Meeting is in preparation for our midterm review as we are midway in the implementation, which will be completed in 2025. We have to validate and be updated with the project,” said Maria Belenda Ambi, the Regional Director of DTI-11 and the RAPID Project Director. In Region 12, the program covers the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, and Sarangani, and prioritizes interventions on coffee, cacao, coconut, and processed fruits and nuts (cardava banana). Since its implementation, the program has assisted 4,882 smallholder farmers. ♦
Date of release: 25 January 2023