ComVal Road. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala (4th from left) and ComVal Governor Arturo Uy (2nd from left) lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the P109-million farm-to-market road project in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley. Joining them are DA regional director Remelyn Recoter (extreme left) and local government unit officials. (Photo by Janelle T. Flores, DA-PRDP RPCO 11 InfoACE Unit) Road rehab to ease transport of farm produce in ComVal
The transport of farm produce in two Compostela Valley towns will soon become easier with the rehabilitation of the 11.7-kilometer Pangutusan–New Alegria farm-to-market road (FMR).
Implemented under the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP), the concreted FMR will connect the provincial road to the barangays of Pangutusan, Basak and Magading in Nabunturan municipality to the barangays of Gabi and New Alegria in Compostela municipality.
“This FMR will link production areas [with] markets, increasing [production and marketing] efficiencies of rice, coconut, banana, corn, cacao, coffee and rubber,” DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said during the recent groundbreaking ceremony held for the P109 million-worth project.
The FMR is expected to reduce by 50% the time of transporting produce from the farm to the market. Likewise, the roads will reduce the transport cost of farm inputs and products, as well as the maintenance cost of vehicles.
The communities that will benefit from the FMR rehabilitation project were part of the areas heavily devastated by Typhoon Pablo in 2012.
“If another strong typhoon like Pablo would strike again, we can be more confident that FMRs under the PRDP could still serve our farmers because these are built to stand the brunt of natural calamities,” the Secretary said.
Alcalca stressed that FMRs under the DA-PRDP are now climate resilient as the design was improved from being mere all-weather to fully concrete roads.
Meanwhile, Remelyn Recoter, director of the DA field office in Region 11, urged the stakeholders to engage in the project implementation by being vigilant, ensuring that quality standards are met. Recoter said that the DA-PRDP has instituted a grievance redress mechanism through which stakeholders’ suggestions or complaints are heard and acted upon.
The DA-PRDP is a flagship project of the government for inclusive, value chain-oriented and climate-smart agro-fisheries sector. It is jointly funded by the World Bank, and the national and local government units. ### (Janelle T. Flores, DA-PRDP RPCO 11 InfoACE Unit; Jan P. Dacumos, DA-PRDP NPCO InfoACE Unit)
