In the outskirt of Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay settles a community of farmers whose livelihood positively changed after the completion of farm-to-market road (FMR) project.

Through the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) and Local Government of Siay, the poor road condition of two barangays were addressed through the rehabilitation and concreting of Bagong Silang-Magsaysay FMR project amounting to P61 million.

“Before, our living condition here was very difficult. We had to hike in going to Batu (another barangay) for three hours while carrying our produce like vegetables,” said famer Rosalinda R. Ito.

Currently, residents no longer experience the hassle and difficulty when travelling and transporting their goods because of a cemented road.

“Now, our travel time from here to Poblacion is shortened to 40 minutes. Before, we used to spend P120.00 for our fare while today it lowered to P80.00 only,” she said.

Stretching 6.96 km, the road influence area of the project covered three barangays which include Brgy. Bagong Silang, Villagracia, and Magsaysay with a total of 227 household beneficiaries.

The project which started in 2015 was completed last December 22, 2017.  Six months since its completion, residents are now starting to feel the impact of the project in their lives and community as well.

“The concreted road in our barangay encouraged more settlers to build their houses. My sibling are even planning to live here again for good when they found out that a better road is now available in our community,” added Ito.

The Municipality of Siay is located in the 2^nd District and Eastern part of the Province Zamboanga Sibugay. One of the municipality’s primary commodities includes rubber.

Through this improved road, it is expected that project beneficiaries will increase their agricultural production. Residents here now have improve access of road network to transport goods which will increase traffic county by 60% and reduce travel time and vehicle operating cost by at least 50% in the long run.

“We felt much joy and gratefulness to PRDP for giving us this concreted road because this is what we longed for ever since,” said Ito. ((Joy M. Montecalvo, PSO)

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