Japanese Embassy's First Secretary Ryutaro Aoki will attend the handover ceremonies for the Project entitled “Support to improve livelihood of poor farmers through production of organic and reduced-chemical produce in Nueva Vizcaya”. The event will be held in the Municipality of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya on February 20, 2013. The financial assistance for this project amounting to 42,571,511 Yen (approximately 21.3 million Pesos) is provided under the scheme “Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects” by the Government of Japan.
The implementation of this Project is spearheaded by the GLM Institute, a Japanese NGO, in collaboration with a Philippine counterpart NGO, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), together with relevant local government agencies in Nueva Vizcaya. A three-year GLMI project on promotion of participatory forest management in Nueva Vizcaya was also funded by the same grant assistance scheme of Japan's ODA.
This new GLMI project complements the previous three-year Japan-assisted project on promotion of participatory forest management in Nueva Vizcaya, which started implementation in 2008 . The current project involves five components, namely: establishment of new marketing channels other than middlemen; production of high profit vegetables and fruits using sustainable farming technologies; capacity building and knowledge development of producers in marketing of organic and reduced-chemical produce; involvement of local governments and partners in consolidation of the production environment; and dissemination of techniques and knowledge to other producers in the area. Major achievements of the project include construction of five communal irrigation systems in four municipalities in Nueva Vizcaya, conduct of marketing demonstrations through farmers' markets in the provinces and Metro Manila for the organic and reduced-chemical agricultural produce, and capacity development of the farmers in pursuit of establishment of farmers associations.
This project reaffirms Japan's commitment to help strengthen the Philippine Government's efforts in alleviating the plight of marginal farmers. For more than a decade, Japan, as the top donor of the Official Development Assistance to the Philippines, has assisted the forestry and agricultural sectors in the Philippines through various Japanese ODA schemes such as loans, grants and technical cooperation through JICA. This project also contributes to further strengthening of the friendship between the peoples of Japan and the Philippines as well as strategic partnership between the two countries.
The Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects was launched in 2002 to enhance cooperation between the Government of Japan and NGOs in the implementation of ODA to promote effective and efficient aid for developing countries.
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