MANILA, Philippines – The government continues to push for economic development in the country’s rural areas as four departments converge to address poverty and employment in the countryside.
The departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Environment and Natural Resources, and Interior and Local Government recently signed resolutions for the National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development (NCI-SRD).
The NCI-SRD is a strategy among the four rural development agencies with the goal of reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable countryside development.
The convergence also aims to provide integrated delivery of services and programs to rural farming, fishing, and upland communities of the country.
“The convergence aims to lower poverty incidence, produce livelihood from rural areas, and generate economic activities. We will streamline the processes and make the turnaround time of every projects faster,” lead convenor and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said.
Through the enhanced framework, the NCI-SRD will undertake joint planning, programming and budgeting as well as monitoring and evaluation in the achievement of the sectoral goals and targets of the plan.
Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
The convergence has requested the National Economic and Development Authority to task regional development councils to consider convergence initiative projects as regional priorities.
It also recommended to the DENR the construction of on-farm roads and flood control dams in the National Greening Program Development Plan by tapping the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The four agencies have likewise requested to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to classify convergence initiative sites as economic zones.
Also signed was a resolution endorsing the renewal of membership of the Government of the Philippines to the African-Asian Rural Development Organization and designating the DAR as the lead agency to represent.
The NCI-SRD, which has been started in the past administrations, has made convergence model sites in Ilocos Norte, Leyte and Zamboanga Del Norte.
