CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture recently awarded the 6.96-kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) to the local government of Santander town in southern Cebu.
DA said the FMR connects barangay Looc to Talisay (vice versa) in Santander, Cebu.
The FMR, funded by the Philippine Rural Development Project, has a total cost of P69.60 million.
The road project will facilitate the transport of basic agricultural products in the community which include chicken, coconut, corn and cassava produced by 6,858 farmer beneficiaries, DA said.
Late last month, Agriculture Chief Proceso Alcala met with agriculture stakeholders in Santander for a consultative forum.
Among the things farmers there need from the government include irrigation and water supply, fertilizer and livelihood, DA said.
Process
Previously, Gerry Avila, agribusiness chief at the Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas, said that tedious process is a major factor why some other PRDP-funded projects are not yet taking off.
Avila said some other proposed projects were yet on their bidding, procurement and finalization stages.
In Region 7, about P429 million worth of infrastructure projects for Cebu and Bohol had already been endorsed to PRDP's National Project Coordination Office.
The rehabilitation of the FMR in Sagbayan, Bohol is the first PRDP-implemented infrastructure project in the region.
PRDP is a six-year P27.5-billion project led by the DA, covering the country's 80 provinces in 16 regions.
It is funded by the World Bank. —(FREEMAN)