In San Jose City, Nueva Ecija where the main source of income is farming, at least 45,000 metric tons of palay and 35 metric tons of onion are produced every season. The city also cultivates a variety of vegetables and fruits such as Ampalaya, Tomato, String Beans, Squash, Pepper, Mango and Papaya.

Agriculture occupies the biggest portion of the land in the city. It has an area of 18,321.42 hectares or 85.24% of the total land area which is 21,493.4 hectares. As identified in the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) of Nueva Ecija, San Jose City is one of the major producers of Ampalaya in the province.

Economic growth is dependent on the agriculture production.  Consequently, poor road condition and enough irrigation facilities have influence in the increased production and effective marketing of produce.

The improvement of the farm-to-market road (FMR) traversing Barangays San Juan, Villa Joson and Porais, with a total length of 5.17591 kilometers, funded and implemented under the Philippine Rural Development Project seeks to promote economic development in the area particularly agriculture productions.

The needs for an improve facility and farm-to-market roads covering the areas of the said barangays will be of great help to contribute in the access of marketing farm produce and delivery of farm inputs needed for crop production.

Bonifacio Toralba, one of the beneficiaries from Barangay Villa Joson said that the FMR will be very beneficial to the people in their barangay, especially now that it is already 95% completed. “Before, we were having a hard time delivering our products to the local market. It helps our community in many ways since the road gives easy access to other establishments in our town,” said Toralba. He added that they can save the money they spent on hiring transportations.

The total project cost of the subproject is P50,445,993; 80% of which is sourced from World Bank (WB) loan proceeds and 10% are counterpart funds from the National Government through the Department of Agriculture (DA).  The remaining 10% amounting to P5,044,599.30 will be the equity contribution of the Provincial Government of Nueva Ecija. (Dianne Lapuz, RPCO3 InfoACE)