Bauko mayor slams bad condition of farm roads

BAUKO, Mountain Province  – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit criticized the bad condition of farm to market roads in the town, especially during rains, that resulted to heavy losses among vegetable farmers who were not able to bring to the market their products on time for the prevailing good buying prices.

Ït is high time that concerned government agencies focus their priorities on the rehabilitation, improvement and upgrading of farm to market roads as well as the opening of new road networks in the remote villages to cater to the needs of our vegetable farmers,” Akilit said.

He said slippery condition of roads and the occurrence of landslides that were caused by the continuous rains delayed delivery of newly harvested vegetables to the market thereby resulting to losses among the farmers considering they were not able to meet the prevailing high buying prices.

           

The local chief executive urged government agencies to prioritize concreting of unpaved farm to market roads and institute to the construction of appropriate slope protection walls in order to ensure that such roads will be open to vehicular traffic even during the rainy days.

            

Akilit also suggested units of heavy equipment  deployed to immediately respond to requests for assistance to clear landslides so that farmers who are able to harvest their products could reach the markets on time and avail of the reasonable buying prices of their agricultural crops.

            

According to him, the undue delay in the delivery of the highly perishable products to the markets could result to the vegetables being destroyed or damaged which would either cause heavy losses on the part of the farmers.

            

Bauko is one of the major vegetable-producing towns in Mountain Province because of the presence of vast tracks of agricultural farms that are situated within watershed and forest reservations.

            

Considering that the municipality is located in a mountainous terrain, he pointed out the construction of roads must already include the placement of appropriate drainage systems and slope protection walls aside from having a well-paved surface to ensure lesser damages to agricultural crops being transported from the farms to the market thereby ensuring the farmers better income as they will be able to avail of the high buying prices of the crops.

            

Akilit cited the good condition of farm to market roads will eventually translate to better socio-economic activities in the vegetable-producing communities since vegetable farmers could also venture in other forms of livelihood that will augment their income from vegetable farming.

            

Because of improved socio-economic activities and increased sources of livelihood for the people, Akilit claimed concerned government agencies and local governments will be able to achieve their primary objective of improving the living condition of people in the countryside and helping significantly eradicating poverty through better employment opportunities among others.

            

Vegetable farming is one of the major source of income of the over 34,000 population of the municipality amidst its being situated within the Mount Data National Park, one of the biggest watershed and forest reservations in the Cordillera.