Farmers of Barangay Hilamonan in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental has been reaping the benefits of a farm-to-market road (FMR) that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had recently upgraded.
According to Secretary Mark A. Villar, the 856-lineal meter FMR project implemented by DPWH Negros Occidental 3rd District Engineering Office (DEO) involves concrete paving of five (5) meters wide road with inclusion of grouted riprap as slope protection and reflectorized thermoplastic pavement markings.
Secretary Villar, citing a report form DPWH Regional Office 6 Director Lea N. Delfinado and District Engineer Rodney A. Gustillo, said that newly-concreted local road has been greatly beneficial to the farming communities of Sitio Utod and Sitio Pasto that specialize in producing rice, sugarcane, and fruit bearing trees.
“The concreted road now enables roughly 600 local farmers to have easier transport of their produce to market centers in Kabankalan City without experiencing the muddy route the road used to turn into especially during rainy days,” said Secretary Villar.
Preventing the need to rent and pay higher price for certain types of trucks to haul agricultural products lowers transportation costs for farmers allowing them to take home more income to their families, Secretary Villar added.
The FMR, aside from facilitating better farm to market connectivity, also leads to a more accessible basic government services not just for the residents of Brgy. Hilamonan but also of people living in other remote barangays in Kabankalan City.
The concreting of the PhP 9.85-million FMR, which was completed in June 2021, is part of a convergence project of the DPWH and the Department of Agriculture (DA) with funding sourced from the CY 2020 Bayanihan II (Recover as One Act).