Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III has asked the regional offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to submit proposals connecting main roads to bridges in their areas in a bid to increase the number of farm-to-market roads nationwide.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, in a Facebook post yesterday, said DAR wants to build more farm-to-market roads to improve the flow of food supply in the country and ensure food products reach the market on time.
Angeles, quoting Estrella, said the best way to improve the flow of food supply is to improve the 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.
“DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III requested DAR field offices to submit a proposal for the said project that would connect bridges to main roads… Improving roads will lead to cutting the costs of transportation and logistics which would both benefit the farmers and consumers,” she said.
DAR last week reported that the “Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-agraryo (TPKP)” program has resulted in the completion of 140 bridge projects nationwide.
There are 29 bridge projects that are ongoing and 17 that are under study or in a pre-construction stage.