BUTUAN CITY (PIA) – The farm-to-market roads (FMR) in the province of Agusan del Norte paved the way for the convenient transport of agricultural products, which resulted in better income for the farmers in the province.
Rudolfo C. Mondejar is grateful to the government for transforming their community. He is just one of the many farmers in Barangay Bay-ang, Cabadbaran City, who enjoys the benefits of the FMR in their barangay.
“Sa una, makaingon jud ko nga lisod ang panginabuhian diring dapita. Lisod labi na ang paghatod sa among mga produkto gikan diri sa Bay-ang, padulong sa mercado tungod kay daghan kaayong bangag ang kalsada, mangadaut ang mga produkto,” said Mondejar.
(In the past, I can really say that life in this place was difficult. It was hard to deliver our products from Bay-ang to the market because of the potholes in the rough roads, and the products easily got damaged.)
“Karon, tungod sa tabang sa gobyerno, nindot na ang kalsada, dili nami maglisod ug hatod sa among mga produkto sa mercado ug nidakhan napod ang mga nagpuyo diri sa Bay-ang, ug labaw sa tanan, wala nay kagubot sa among komunidad,” he added.
(Today, because of the government intervention, the road is now cemented and we no longer struggle to deliver our products to the market. Residents in Bay-ang have also increased, but most importantly, there is no longer armed conflict in our community.)
Rudolfo C. Mondejar is just one of the many farmers in Barangay Bay-ang, Cabadbaran City who thanked the government for supporting the plight of the farmers. The concreting of the roads widened the market for their products. Photo courtesy of PRDP InfoACE 13 .
The Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga Regional Executive Director Ricardo Oñate Jr. attributed the transformation of the area, especially to peace and order, to the completion of the FMR project.
“The concreting of the Bay-ang to Mahaba FRM in Cabadbaran City was completed in 2021 and benefited 751 households under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Mindanao cluster, with a project cost of P152,722,814.98. The completion of the FMR removed the daily burdens of farming, and it even facilitated peace and order in the community,” Dir. Oñate said.
“Bay-ang is just one of the barangays in the region that benefited from these better roads. With FMR, farmers are now motivated to plant and contribute more, and this is strengthening the agriculture in the region,” Onate shared.
Under the DA, the PRDP is a national project that aims to establish a modern, value chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.
In partnership with local government units and the private sector, it shall provide key infrastructure, facilities, technology, and information to raise incomes, productivity, and competitiveness in targeted areas.
As of December 2023, 25 infrastructure sub-projects were completed in Caraga Region with a total cost of P1.823 billion. (NCLM/ PIA Agusan del Norte, with a report from DA-Caraga)
