Road boosts Isabela tilapia industry
JOEY Estepa has been engaged in tilapia production for 20 years but dilapidated roads made growers like him struggle to transport their produce.
“We can hardly attract buyers, and we had difficulty accessing other government services to help farmers in our town of Ramon in Isabela province,” Estepa said.
But things started to change when three years ago, the Department of Agriculture, through its Philippines Rural Development Project (PRDP), proposed a farmto-market road (FMR) project.
This involved the rehabilitation of the Oscariz-Nagbacalan FMR road that spans 6.80 kilometers and that had a total project cost of P126.95 million, which would provide accessibility to thriving tilapia growers and farmers in Ramon and the province.
“The rehabilitated road was very beneficial to tilapia growers and farm owners like me in our area as the transportation of their produce has become easier and safer,” Estepa said.
He said the project also prompted more buyers and suppliers to come to their village.
Municipal agriculturist Cayetano Cristobal Absalon Jr. said it was the local government unit (LGU) of Ramon that tied up with the DA-PRDP to propose the road’s rehabilitation.
Absalon said the primary objective of the FMR project was to support the production and marketing of highly perishable goods, especially fishery products within the influence area of the road.
Ericson Guiao of the DA-PRDP Project Support Office (PSO) North Luzon Information, Advocacy, Communication and Education said the FMR rehabilitation project was vital for transporting farmers’ produce directly to more markets in Santiago City and neighboring municipalities and cities. This also helped increase the incomes of the food producers.
He said data gathered through household interviews during the recently held Rapid Appraisal of Emerging Benefits by the DA-PRDP PSO and Regional Project Coordination Office 2 show some immediate impacts of the FMR project.
“These include a reduction in travel time going to the market by 50 percent, which was an increase in the number of business establishments along the constructed road, faster response during emergencies, and the emergence of tilapia and rice buyers and traders in the barangay (village), among other things,” Guiao said.
He said similar results from the key informant interviews revealed changes in the lives of the farmers from the project “such as ease and accessibility, lessened deterioration of transport vehicles, easier product hauling and transportation, and improved delivery of LGU services.”
“The FMM project is a great help, especially to us fish farm owners. Our fish and rice produce are delivered faster and safer because the road is no longer bumpy,” Estepa said.
“There are now more people investing, more buyers and suppliers of fish since the OscarizNagbacalan farm-to-market road was rehabilitated,” Estepa said.
For her part, Fely La Fuente, a resident in the area, said the FMR project not only helped them travel faster to and from the market but also provided them accessibility to more government services.
“What used to take us several hours to go to town and other places has now become just 15 minutes. It is fast and not muddy, especially when it rains. Many have acquired their own motorcycles and transport vehicles because the road is better now. And during emergencies, we can rush to hospitals and other places when needed,” La Feunte said.
Absalon said residents of Ramon hope to get more projects through the DA-PRDP to support more farmers of other commodities cultivated in their area aside from tilapia.