Three municipalities benefitted from the longest farm-to-market road subproject in 1st District Zamboanga del Sur.

Josefina, Mahayag and Molave are three municipalities in the 1st district of Zamboanga del Sur province directly benefiting from the 18.22-kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project in Region IX, the longest PRDP FMR project in the province with a total cost of P207-Million.

With at least 1,559 direct household beneficiaries, the “Concreting of Junction Provincial Road Gumahan-Leonardo-Bagong Tudela-Gonosan-Diwan-Parasan-Mabuhay-Culo-Sudlon (National Highway Junction) FMR” or JMM FMR (named from the initials of the 3 municipalities) starts at Josefina, one of the smallest towns in Zamboanga del Sur running through Mahayag until it ends at Molave. The completion of this FMR through the cooperation of the provincial and national government alleviates the difficulties farmers in the three municipalities have in bringing their produce to the market.

Josefina Mayor Catalino A. Adapon, says that this road shaves off at least 8 kilometers from their old route that runs through Mahayag down to Molave, the trade and commercial center of Salug Valley area.

“Because of this road, our farmers now have better access to the market,” Adapon said. “Their handling cost expenses are reduced as well.”

The 18.22 km Concreting of PRJ Gumahan-Diwan-Parasan-Mabuhay-Sudlon (NRJ) FMR traverses a vast coconut farm and residential areas of farmers.

Apart from Zambosurians, Mayor Adapon said the JMM FMR is beneficial to vegetable farmers from the neighboring province of Misamis Occidental. He said that during Tuesdays and Fridays truckloads of vegetables and root crops coming from the nearby barangays of Don Victoriano Marcos (Misamis Occidental) come through during trade and market days at Molave Bagsakan Center.

“Who would have thought that what used to be a simple trail before could become a cemented road today?” Emilio Ponce, a 60-year old habal-habal driver quipped. He recalled his high school days at Leonardo Barangay High School where they used carabaos or horses to bring their vegetables from Don Victoriano to Molave. Throughout his years as a habal-habal driver, Emilio remembered how difficult it was for him to navigate and traverse the Diwan area especially during the rainy season. “At times, it would take hours to cross along Diwan stretch especially during rainy days but today it takes me only 27 minutes to reach Molave from Josefina and vice versa,” said Emilio.

He thanked the government because he can now swiftly drive through the long-cemented road from Josefina to Molave and vice versa loaded with passengers or farm products without fear of getting hurt due to accidents. The improved road has also tremendously decreased the maintenance costs for his motorcycle not to mention saving him from the frequent washing he did before when the road was muddy.

Zypril Mae P. Celiz, a college student observed that after the 18.22-kilometer FMR was fully cemented, the fare rate has decreased from P60 one way to Molave, to the current fare of P30 or P40. Many of her friends now also own motorcycles. “We no longer have a hard time going to school because there are many vehicles going to and from our school,” Celiz said.

The cemented road also fast tracked the development Josefina town with establishments such as fast food restaurants, remittance centers and gasoline stations.

Agustina Acuram, a senior citizen, said that for the longest time they used to farm and produce vegetables in barangay Leonardo. “It was very difficult for us deliver our produce to the market due to the rugged and potholed path and sometimes our vegetables would get damaged,” she said.

Now, according to Agustina, her neighbors can speedily bring their vegetables to the Molave public market at dawn and bring back home some viands and other household needs at breakfast time. She expressed thanks to the municipal, provincial and national governments for having a cemented road, to inspire her children to build a respectable home to live in.

Mayor Adapon also expressed her gratitude to DA-PRDP and the national government for making a small town like Josefina a recipient of its rural development subproject that opened more opportunities for residents to earn more and improve their living conditions.

The province of Zamboanga del Sur availed of 4 FMRs under DA-PRDP since 2015 with a total length of 50.21 kilometers amounting to P 566.4-Million. These infra subprojects can be found in the municipalities of 1) Ramon Magsaysay and Tukuran covering 11.87 kilometers; 2) Lakewood measuring 7.94 kms.; 3) Josefina-Mahayag-Molave with 18.22 kms and 4) Tigbao covering 12.18 kilometers. All these in place, there are at least 5,502 farming households directly benefiting from them. (Remai Alejado, RPCO 9)