The Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) in Caraga recently conducted a pre-construction conference for the 9.4 km rehabilitation/concreting of Magsaysay – Bobonaon Spur Sta. Cruz – Paco Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) in Mainit, Surigao del Norte amounting to P103 million.

The concreting of the road could benefit five barangays with coconut as their main agricultural crop. “Farmers in the barangays are already excited for the start of the construction of the project since this has been the dream of the residents in the community,” said Mayor Crisanta Mondano.

Mondano said that farmers in the area have committed to planting more crops if there is already a road where they can easily transport the commodities. “These farmers are truly industrious, they work hard for their family, but there are times that discouragement comes because their products got damaged after transporting through the bumpy and narrow road,” Mondano added.

The Municipality of Mainit is rich with coconut trees which is one of the priority commodities of the Project. “The municipality is ranked second among all municipalities in the province according to the expanded vulnerability and suitability assessment (E-VSA) result for coconut. Thus, PRDP’s intervention will be established here,” said Deputy Project Director Jodel Tabada.

The Infrastructure Component aims to put in place strategic and climate-resilient rural infrastructure facilities along the value chain of a particular commodity to achieve its maximum value and increase the profit of the players in the industry.

PRDP sees the needs of the community and plans for interventions based on the results on its science-based tools. It works out to put in place climate resilient FMRs, bridges, communal irrigation and potable water systems. (Fretcher D. Magatao, RPCO-13)