QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has stepped up its effort to link even the remotest villages to the city and town market centers by requiring its regional and provincial offices to submit proposed farm-to-market road projects that would connect completed bridge projects to the main roads.
DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III issued the order in compliance with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to extend the necessary support services to the farming sectors in the latter’s bid to resuscitate the country’s agriculture industry by improving the flow of food supply.
“The best way to improve the flow of food supply is to improve our road networks, from as far as the remotest villages to the main roads leading to the market centers so that farmers themselves can bring their fresh harvests easily,” Estrella said.
In Memorandum No. 326, series of 2022, DAR Undersecretary for Support Services, Atty. Milagros Isabel Cristobal, provided the DAR field offices a list of completed and on-going bridge projects under the Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-agraryo (TPKP) where they could connect their proposed farm-to-market roads.
So far, 140 bridges under the TPKP project, a joint project between the Philippines and French governments, had already been completed, while construction for 29 others are on-going and another 17 are still under study or pre-construction stage.
“Please identify from the attached list of completed and on-going TPKP projects that will require extension of the bridge approach roads to connect them to the main thoroughfares,” Cristobal instructed DAR regional and provincial officials in the said memorandum.
Estrella explained that improving the road networks would help farmers maximize their earning potentials as they can haul their harvests themselves to the city and town markets, instead of relying on traders or middlemen, who usually buy their products at very low prices.
“With improved road network, the cost of hauling or transportation will be much lower and affordable for our farmers,” Estrella said. (DAR)
