The barangay officials and residents of Solana and Amulung, Cagayan expressed gratitude for the realization of their quest of easing the burden of transporting their products. The once dusty road during summer and pothole-filled path during the rainy season was transformed into a climate-smart farm-to-market road (FMR).

The 20.25 kilometer-Iraga-Bayabat FMR traversing 12 barangays in Amulung and one (1) barangay in Solana was 100% completed as of March 26, 2019. It amounts to 200 million pesos.

Under the Philippine Rural Development Project’s (PRDP) counterparting scheme, eighty percent (80%) of the total project cost (TPC) of the FMR comes from the World Bank, ten percent (10%) from the Government of the Philippines through the Department of Agriculture (DA) and ten percent (10%) comes from the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU) of Cagayan.

Cagayan officials led by Governor Manuel N. Mamba, Regional Executive Director Narciso A. Edillo and the Regional Project Coordination Office 2 (RPCO 2) staff, Solana Vice Mayor Meynard Carag, and barangay officials of the two municipalities spearheaded the inauguration on March 28, 2019.

“RPCO 2 wants to sustain the reforms within the agency as regional channel investments that would help mainly smallholding farmers based on how subprojects under the World Bank-assisted PRDP were instituted,” RED Edillo said in his message on PRDP-led reforms.

“The FMR is very significant to farmers for it is now easier for them to transport their products. It is also very important to authorities in enforcing peace and order,” Governor Mamba said during the inauguration.

Meanwhile, Mr. Edilberto Edillo, Barangay Captain of Iraga, Solana said that they take pride being part of the monitoring team of the FMR. He said that the training organized by RPCO 2 creating the Barangay Inspectorate Team (BIT) helped them understand the phases of road construction.

“This PRDP-funded FMR left us lessons on transparency and governance. We always confer with the contractor and he has to keep abreast on schedules and timelines because we remind him about the danger of negative slippages. Further, all field tests are documented using geotagged photos,” he said.

“Transport of products is faster now. What used to be a two-hour journey before is now down to an hour. We can transport our products on time,” Leonardo Sotero, a resident of Annafatan, Amulung said.

Namabbalan-Baliuag-Bical-Cabbo and Alcala East are two other FMRs being constructed in Cagayan. (Ferdinand N. Cortez, RPCO2 InfoACE Unit)