Kalinga economy to get boost with DA farm-to-market road

TABUK CITY -- More than 5,000 residents of four villages here will soon have a paved road to pass on and the local economy is expected to get a boost.

Elvy Taquio of the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Projects (DA-PRDP), said on Wednesday the 10.4-kilometer road will cover four barangays -- Bado Dangwa, Nambucayan, Guilayon, and Magnao in Tabuk, where coffee farms are also located.

Previously a dirt road, the farm-to-market road project funded by the DA, the World Bank, and the provincial local government of Kalinga, will benefit a total of 1,015 households or 5,096 individuals.

Quoting Gaston Cael, head of the I-BUILD (integrated building of infrastructure and logistics and development), the Infrastructure Development component of the PRDP Regional Project Coordination Office in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Taquio said the farm-to-market road (FMR) subproject is already 47 percent complete as of July 23, 2019.

The project is one of the 51 infrastructure sub-projects amounting to PHP2.4 billion, which was approved under the DA-PRDP.

The Cordillera region received 35 percent or PHP2.4-billion from the PHP6.9-billion North Luzon cluster allocation of the PRDP. Five of the projects in the Cordillera are in Kalinga province.

The North Luzon cluster is composed of Regions 1 (Ilocos provinces), 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon) and Cordillera.

Ifugao has 22.8 percent with 17 approved projects; Benguet with 18.66 percent with 11 approved projects, Mt. Province, 13.31 percent with six approved projects; Apayao, 11.18 percent with eight approved projects; and Abra, 2.29 percent with four approved projects.

Of the 51 projects approved in the Cordillera, Taquio said seven were completed infrastructure projects worth PHP163.1 million. There are 36 ongoing projects worth PHP1.77 billion while eight projects worth PHP498 million are under procurement.

She said the Cordillera has the highest number and cost of approved I-BUILD with the most efficient region in terms of sub-project approval in the cluster.

Kalinga has the highest cost of approved sub-projects under the I-BUILD; the most efficient LGU in completing the procurement process under I-BUILD for the sub-project specifically- specifically the Improvement of the Bado Dangwa-Guilayon farm-to-market road; and for being the most efficient LGU in terms of sub-project approval from enterprise prioritization.

“Padasen tayo met man ti magna ti simento haan laeng nga ti lutlut (Let us also try to walk on concrete not only on mud),” said Jun Dalilis, 65, of barangay Nambucayan, one of the villages that will benefit from the government road project.

He said he went to the place in 1979, raised a family and started a seven-hectare coffee plantation.

He brings his produce to the market by carrying them on his shoulders. But with the project nearing completion, he is thankful that the road has been done near his house.

Luzviminda Valderama, another resident, recalled how some of the residents in their barangay did not believe that their road will soon be paved.

“There were some who did not believe but as they can see, the road is now being concreted, and it’s actually very nice,” Valderama said.

The PRDP, a six-year national project under the DA and jointly funded by the World Bank, national government and local government units, aims to establish a modern and climate-resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. It provides infrastructure, facilities, technology, and information to raise incomes, productivity, and competitiveness in targeted areas.

Projects include farm-to-market roads, bridges, slope protection, tramline, communal irrigation systems, and potable water system. (PNA)