Farmers in Agusan Norte thankful to farm-to-market roads
By Nora
Lanuza Molde
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) – The farm-to-market roads (FMR) in the province of Agusan del Norte paved the way for the convenient transport of agricultural products, which resulted in better income for the farmers in the province.
Rudolfo
C. Mondejar is grateful to the government for transforming their community. He
is just one of the many farmers in Barangay Bay-ang, Cabadbaran City, who
enjoys the benefits of the FMR in their barangay.
“Sa una,
makaingon jud ko nga lisod ang panginabuhian diring dapita. Lisod labi na ang
paghatod sa among mga produkto gikan diri sa Bay-ang, padulong sa mercado
tungod kay daghan kaayong bangag ang kalsada, mangadaut ang mga produkto,” said
Mondejar.
(In
the past, I can really say that life in this place was difficult. It was hard
to deliver our products from Bay-ang to the market because of the potholes in
the rough roads, and the products easily got damaged.)
“Karon,
tungod sa tabang sa gobyerno, nindot na ang kalsada, dili nami maglisod ug
hatod sa among mga produkto sa mercado ug nidakhan napod ang mga nagpuyo diri
sa Bay-ang, ug labaw sa tanan, wala nay kagubot sa among komunidad,” he added.
(Today,
because of the government intervention, the road is now cemented and we no
longer struggle to deliver our products to the market. Residents in Bay-ang
have also increased, but most importantly, there is no longer armed conflict in
our community.)
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Rudolfo C. Mondejar is just one of the many farmers in Barangay Bay-ang, Cabadbaran City who thanked the government for supporting the plight of the farmers. The concreting of the roads widened the market for their products. Photo courtesy of PRDP InfoACE 13.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga Regional Executive Director Ricardo OΓ±ate Jr. attributed the transformation of the area, especially to peace and order, to the completion of the FMR project.
“The
concreting of the Bay-ang to Mahaba FRM in Cabadbaran City was completed in
2021 and benefited 751 households under the Philippine Rural Development
Project (PRDP) Mindanao cluster, with a project cost of P152,722,814.98. The
completion of the FMR removed the daily burdens of farming, and it even
facilitated peace and order in the community,” Dir. OΓ±ate said.
“Bay-ang
is just one of the barangays in the region that benefited from these better
roads. With FMR, farmers are now motivated to plant and contribute more, and
this is strengthening the agriculture in the region,” Onate shared.
Under the
DA, the PRDP is a national project that aims to establish a modern, value
chain-oriented and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector.
In
partnership with local government units and the private sector, it shall
provide key infrastructure, facilities, technology, and information to raise
incomes, productivity, and competitiveness in targeted areas.
As of December 2023, 25 infrastructure sub-projects were completed in Caraga Region with a total cost of P1.823 billion. (NCLM/ PIA Agusan del Norte, with a report from DA-Caraga)
