More roads to boost cassava industry in Dinagat Islands
By
Renelle Escuadro
BUTUAN CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) recently approved the Sering–Plaridel farm-to-market road (FMR) that will increase and widen the market for cassava industry players in the Province of Dinagat Islands.
This
project will cover a 9.4-kilometer FMR that will traverse the municipalities of
Libjo and Basilisa to benefit an estimated 3,659 households, who are mostly
cassava farmers and growers.
The
infrastructure, with an estimated cost of P341 million, will be funded under
the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale-Up, designed to sustain
the focus on food value chains and ensure greater connectivity, mobility,
accessibility, availability, and affordability of food to meet consumer demand.
The key officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Caraga and other stakeholders formally signed the agreement for the construction of the Sering–Plaridel farm-to-market road in Libjo and Basilisa towns, all in the Province of Dinagat Islands. Photo courtesy of DA-13.
According to the DA, this project serves as an offshoot or continuation of the completed R. Ecleo–Upper Laguna FMR, which traverses Barangays Ma-atas, R. Ecleo, and Laguna in Cagdianao town, has benefited 794 households, 777 of whom are farmers of cassava and other priority crops.
A&M
Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Barangay Mahayahay in San Jose town is engaged in
buying fresh cassava tubers from cassava growers and processing the crops into
granules, which will then be delivered and sold to cassava value-chain players
like the Fatima Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Ormoc, Leyte.
This
cooperative, as a direct beneficiary of the FMR, felt the benefits of the
project were the ease of transport of the crop from the farmers to the market.
Cherryl
G. Alpar, secretary of A&M Multi-Purpose Cooperative, narrated the gaps
filled and addressed by the presence of DA-PRDP’s farm-to-market road in the
province.
“Sa wala
pa nakarsada ang Upper Laguna, lisod jud ug dugay ang among traveling time sa
pagkuha sa kalibre kay lubak-lubak man gud ang kalsada. Gikan sa warehouse
almost one hour kapin, ug isa ra ka biyahe ang mahitabo sa isa ka adlaw, unya
maka-karga ra mi ug 1,000 tons nga kalibre,” Alpar said.
Before the R. Ecleo-Upper Laguna farm-to-market road was built, cassava farmers and traders relied on this path to transport their crops. Similar to the unpaved road, they faced challenges in getting their produce from the farm to the warehouse and market. Photo courtesy of DA-13.
[When there was still no road in Upper Laguna, transporting the cassava was really hard, and travel time was long since the road was rough. From the warehouse, it would take almost an hour, and we could only travel once a day and carry a maximum of 1,000 tons of cassava.]
“Karon
nga naa nay kalsada, dool na kaayo mi sa mga farmers, makabiyahe nami ug kaduha
sa isa ka adlaw ug maka-karga ug 4,000 tons nga kalibre taga biyahe,” she
added.
[Now that
there is a cemented road, we're very close to the farmers. We can travel back and
forth in a day and load up to 4,000 tons for each trip.]
With
another FMR to be constructed in the province, Alpar shared that more farmers
are now motivated to plant cassava and have requested the cooperative to pick
up their crops, which has widened and expanded the market and business of the
group.
The 3.6-kilometer R. Ecleo-Upper Laguna farm-to-market road in Cagdianao town, Province of Dinagat Islands, was completed in October 2020. This is the first FMR that has benefited cassava farmers and growers in the province. Photo courtesy of DA-13.
Cassava, a calorie-rich vegetable root crop, is used mainly as food, animal feed, and fuel. It can also be used as a raw material for pharmaceuticals and industrial products and applications, among others.
According
to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), from April to June 2023, the
cassava production in the country was estimated at 709.91 thousand metric tons,
which indicated a growth of 1.6 percent from the 698.63 thousand metric tons
output in the same quarter of 2022.
With more and better roads in the pipeline, the potential of the cassava industry in the Province of Dinagat Islands will continue to propel and sustain its goal of becoming a key industry player in the country. (RLE/PIA-Dinagat Islands, with a report from DA-13)
