DAVAO CITY – A new farm road in insurgency-wracked Compostela Valley brought relief to farmers in the interior villages previously burdened by expensive transport and hauling costs.
The 11.74-kilometer road in Compostela town, newly rehabilitated and paved with concrete under the Philippine Rural Development Project, will speed up the transport of vegetables and agricultural products to the nearby town market in Nabunturan.
The concrete road connects the barangays of New Alegria and Gabi in Compostela, and barangays Basak, Magading and Pangutosan in Nanbunturan.
The road project was done with a budget of P109.44 million, as part of the infrastructure development support to community projects.
Farmer Peter Jumigop said farm products usually take days to reach the markets either in Compostela town or in Nabunturan, especially on rainy days when they have to wade through knee-length muddy paths.
“Before, our road was just the pathway paved by carabaos which carry our produce. There was no decent road,” he said in a story dispatched by the PRDP to the news outfits.
Jumigop said it would take them three days to have their rice threshed. “It’s even worse when it rains, because the palay would already sprout.”
The Compostela farm road project is considered one of “big-ticket FMR projects in Mindanao” funded under the Department of Agriculture’s PRDP. It is expected to considerably cut hauling fees and transport time for farmers.
Farmer Raul Bogani said they used to pay P15 per sack of goods “with motor vehicles transporting their produce to the market”.
“But the situation is different now. We do not pay for hauling anymore. With a good road, buyers with vehicles can easily procure our rice by the side of the road,” Bogani said.
In the Nabunturan side of the road, Purisima Llabore, a farmer in Basak said “there are harvesters, tractors who could just collect our produce because of the better road”.
Basak village chief Danilo Cuevas said other benefits could be felt immediately, such as farmers being able to send their children to school “since their expenses in the farm are minimized with a better road.