Roads boost farmers’ income

Roads boost farmers’ income

THE construction and rehabilitation of farm to market roads and bridges in Davao Region contributed to the increase of income of small farmers up to 15 percent for every harvest.

“There were no access roads before so the farmers were not encouraged to plant more. There was, however, an increase of income of small farmers according to the impact assessment because of the opening of the roads,” Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Davao project manager Eduardo Suaybaguio said Thursday, June 6, during the Kapihan sa PIA media forum.

“Noon, ‘yung presyo ng corn for every kilo is P6 but the transport cost because there were no access roads, they have to spend P5 per kilo of their produce to transport the corn from the mountain to the nearest market. So ang natira sa kanila is only P1, so talagang walang motivations to plant,” he added.

He added that the farm to market roads and bridges are located in Maragusan and New Bataan, Compostela Valley where it benefited around 2,000 households; and in Magsaysay and Matanao, Davao del Sur where it benefited more than 2,500 households.

“With the access roads, they are now encouraged to plant more and are evidently increasing their income,” he said.

The construction and rehabilitation of farm to market roads were part of the P4.4 billion project of the Mindanao Sustainable Agrarian and Agriculture Development Project (Minsaad), a special project of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the government of the Philippines.

According to the data from DAR-Davao, there was a total of 395.2 kilometers of farm to market roads and 952 kilometers bridges that has been constructed and rehabilitated in Caraga, Davao and Soccsksargen region. This reduced the travel time of farmers to 30 percent. (LHC)

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