Tanudan, Kalinga – The long wait for a good access road is finally over. Residents of Pangol, Tanudan, Kalinga may now enjoy improved and easy access as the completed subproject, “Improvement of Banneng to Gombowoy farm-to-market road” has been  turned over by the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to the local government unit in a simple ceremony held in Tanudan, Kalinga.

“Now that this 13-kilometer road has been completed and turned over, we urge  the direct beneficiaries  of this project, to  care and protect it as their own,” said Department of Agriculture (DA) RFU CAR Director Narciso A. Edillo in his message during the ceremony.

Tanudan is the largest producer of coffee in the province of Kalinga.

“This project may principally improve the coffee industry in Tanudan, but I also noticed some major crops here that will be easily be linked to the market such as rice, corn and banana,” according to Edillo.

Edillo added that this P130.6 million  farm-to-market road (FMR)  project was constructed so that the farmers can support their coffee products from Tanudan to the market and thus help increase the income of farmers. “The road is a resource that will boost the  ecomomy of the municipality and the province as well,” he said.

During the program, Vice Mayor David Calsiyao narrated how the local populace suffered grave difficulties without the road almost all their lives. From Pangol to Tabuk, he recounts that as children, they  travel by foot carrying their sacked products in their backs with their parents and elders up to Cudal where transportation, usually a 6×6 truck, awaits them.

“This road will be very beneficial for us specially to the farmers, because they will no longer  experience hardships in transporting their products to the market.  Moreover, our travel time will be shortened,” added Calsiyao.

Without the road, travel time from Pangol to Tanudan takes half a day. “But  with the concreting of this road, it only takes less than an hour to bring our products to Bulanao,” Calsiyao explained.

Today, the local folks are also hoping  for more services and businesses  to reach their municipality since the road has already been concreted.

DA-PRDP Project Support Office (PSO) Deputy Project Director Elma Mananes congratulated the beneficiaries for having received the very first FMR project funded under the PRDP in the region.

“This is the first FMR to be completed in CAR, and has also served as the pilot project in the region,” she said.

Moreover, Mananes lauded the Province of Kalinga for garnering the most number of  approved subprojects among other regions in Luzon A Cluster, composed of Regions 1,2, 3 and CAR. “This is not impossible because of the strong support extended by the Provincial Governor and his Sanguniang Bayan members to these projects,” she said.

Governor Jocel Baac urged the people of Tanudan to strengthen coffee production in the municipality since the road is already finished.  He reminded them that coffee is the main reason why the road has been constructed and that there is an urgent need to boost the production of this commodity and eventually boost their income as well.

On the other hand, PSO Director Roy Abaya reminded the residents and beneficiaries of the subproject that all projects of the DA, including the PRDP, intends to bring benefits to the farmers through the three strategies, namely, technology, financing and marketing.

“Kami ay umaasa na kung paano natin pinagplanuhan na ang ating kalsada sana ay magawa nating i-maintain para mapakinabangan natin ng husto ang benefits na talagang idudulot nito (We are hoping that our roads shall be maintained as planned so that the people will enjoy the benefits that can be derived from this road to the fullest), ” Abaya said.

The Improvement of Banneng to Gombowoy FMR  is jointly funded by the World Bank (80%), the National Government (10%) and the Provincial Government of Kalinga (10%).

“With this new road, we hope to see the income of marginal coffee farmers here increase with the expected growth in coffee production in the area to make it sustainable,” Director Edillo said.  (Ma. Imelda Isabel B. Zabala, RPCO-CAR InfoACE)