Kalinga town opens farm to market road

TANUDAN, Kalinga The long wait for a good access road is finally over.

Residents of Pangol, Tanudan, Kalinga may now enjoy improved and easy access after the completion of the Banneng to Gombowoy farm-to-market road was turned over by the Philippine Rural Development Project(PRDP) to Tanudan.

"Now that this 13kilometer road has been completed and turned over, we urge the direct beneficiaries of this project, to care and protect it as their own," said Department of Agricul- ture – Cordillera region director Narciso Edillo. Tanudan is the largest producer of coffee in the province of Kalinga. "This project may principally improve the coffee industry in Tanudan, but I also noticed some major crops here that will easily be linked to the market such as rice, corn and banana," Edillo added. Edillo added the P130.6 million farmto-market road project was constructed as a support to the coffee products of the town to help increase the income of farmers. The road is also seen to boost the economy of the municipality and the province as well.

Vice - Mayor David Calsiyao narrated how the local populace suffered grave difficulties without the road almost all their lives. From Pangol to Tabuk, he recounts as children, they travel by foot carrying their sacked products in their backs with their parents and elders up to Cudal where transportation, usually a 6x6 truck, awaits them.

"This road will be very beneficial for us specially to the farmers, because they will no longer experience hardships in transporting their products to the market. Moreover, our travel time will be shortened." added Calsiyao.

DA-PRDP Project Support Office (PSO) Deputy Project Director Elma Mananes congratulated the beneficiaries for having received the very first FMR project funded under the PRDP in the region.

"This is the first FMR to be completed in CAR, and has also served as the Pilot project in the region," she said.

Mananes lauded the Kalinga for garnering the most number of approved sub-

projects among other regions in Luzon A Cluster, composed of Regions 1,2, 3 and CAR.

"This is not impossible because of the strong support extended by the Provincial Governor and his Sanguniang Bayan members to these projects," she said.

Governor Jocel Baac urged the people of Tanudan to strengthen coffee production in the municipality since the road is already finished and reminded them coffee is the main reason why the road has been constructed adding there is an urgent need to boost the production cofffee.

The improvement of Banneng to Gombowoy FMR is jointly funded by the World Bank (80%), the National Government (10%) and the Provincial Government of Kalinga(10%) .

"With this new road, we hope to see the income of marginal coffee farmers here increase with the expected growth in coffee production in the area to make it sustainable," Director Edillo said. Ma. Imelda Isabel Zabala