The Department of Agriculture-Cordillera (DA-CAR) has initiated the localization of the National Farm-to-Market Road Network Plan (NFMRNP) for 2023-2028 for the region.
Engineer Filemon Salvador, Chief of the DA Regional Agriculture Engineering Division (RAED) explained Provincial, Municipal, and City agriculturists, engineers, and planning and development coordinators including Local Chief Executives (LCE) in the six provinces and two cities were divided into batches to undergo a workshop in Baguio City to plot and input farm-to-market road (FMR) proposals in the GeoAgri System.
GEOAGRI is an in-house web-based system jointly developed by the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) and Caraga State University (CSU) to consolidate the information of FMR projects, and is envisioned to be the common portal for all Government Agencies and Local Government Unit (LGU) implementing FMRs.
The system promotes transparency, governance, maximized resource allocation and minimized duplication and overlapping of projects.
The workshop covered data build-up, updating of network map by province/district/city/municipality in agriculture and fisheries production areas, coastal landing sites, post-harvest facilities and markets, inputting of FMR proposals in the GeoAgri System and digitalization, and the Digitalization of DILG Local Roads Network.
“This is a collaborative effort between the DA-Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) together with other agencies critical in FMR implementation like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Tourism and Agrarian Reform,” Salvador said.
The creation of FMRs ensure a linkage of agriculture and fisheries areas to markets, allowing producers to transport their goods to traders and consumers with relative ease. Farmers and fisherfolk gain better prices and broader reach for their products, ensuring productivity and food security.
During the said workshop, DA-BAFE Director Ariodear Rico expounded on the direction and other courses of action, aside from reiterating the need for a plan to serve as a guidepost in the implementation of FMRs .
“These strategic plans provides the direction we want to go with regard to FMR development plan, since 2018 DA has started implementing Farm-To-Market Roads but now we are formalizing our plan through documents which has been a substantial investment on the part of government that is why we want to know what impact the interventions provided by government has given to the beneficiaries,” Rico stated.
At present, the Marcos Jr. administration has completed 51 percent of the target 131,410.66 kilometers of the government’s FMR Network Program, with 14 million hectares in the country’s production area for agriculture and fisheries to be served within six years. The government has built 67,328.92 kilometers of FMRs equivalent to 32 road trips from Aparri to Jolo. By JTLlanes
