Farmers in Mallig town, Isabela are positive that the rehabilitation and construction of 9.17-kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) traversing five barangays in their municipality will provide the necessary transportation infrastructure to boost the production and marketing activities of the province’s growing dairy industry.

The P62.45-million worth FMR sub-project implemented under the World Bank-assisted  Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) will mainly cater to dairy farms based on a value chain analysis, but it will also serve other commodities such as rice, corn, bitter gourd (ampalaya), eggplant, dragon fruit, squash and cattle within the Mallig dairy zone and its identified road influence areas.

During a stakeholders’ consultation of the Luzon A Cluster leg of the First World Bank Implementation Support Mission to the PRDP, Diosdado Bilaya, a farmer from Barangay Manano said that before, bringing their products to the town proper was difficult because of the uneven and potholed road.

“Dahil sa proyektong ito, mas madali sa amin na maihatid ang aming mga produkto sa palengke. Pwede na rin naming patuyuin ang aming mga palay at maibenta sa mas mataas na presyo.” (With the project, delivering our products to the market will now be more convenient. We can also dry our rice harvest [better] and sell it at a higher price,”) he said.

He added that students going to school will no longer have to suffer from dusty or muddy road.

Serving more than 1,800 households, the FMR sub-project implemented under the PRDP’s I-BUILD component (infrastructure development), is expected to decrease travel time by 50%, reduce hauling cost and post-harvest losses of agricultural products, increase savings in fuel consumption and reduce depreciation cost of vehicle spare parts. The PRDP targets its completion by January 2016.

Being connected to major roads leading to the region’s commercial centers, namely, the Santiago City-Tuguegarao City national highway and Delfin Albano-Tumauini, Isabela national road, the sub-project will likewise increase the market shares of Mallig farmers on other commodities, hence, increasing their incomes.

The project will support the dairy industry in the province. Currently, an enterprise subproject for upgrading dairy facility has been proposed for PRDP funding under I-REAP  component to support the processing and marketing of dairy products.

The PRDP is a six-year national project that aims to establish a modern, inclusive, value-chain oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. It is implemented through the partnership of the DA, the World Bank and local government units. A team from the World Bank is currently in the country to visit several sub-projects to assess the progress of, and address issues and concerns on the implementation of the PRDP. (Jan P. Dacumos, DA-PRDP)