CEBU CITY -- With the complicated procedures in constructing agriculture-specific infrastructure projects, the top official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Central Visayas has pushed for a review of the mechanics in implementing projects that are intended to benefit the farmers.
DA-7 Regional Director Salvador Diputado told the Philippine News Agency in an interview on Wednesday that while the budget allocation for farm-to-market roads (FMRs) comes from their department, the agency that will implement the projects is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the region.
The agriculture department’s job right now, Diputado said, is just to verify the status of the project.
“It’s a complicated process. While the budget comes from DA, the DPWH (in the region) and the district congressmen are the ones who are in control of the implementation,” Diputado said in Cebuano.
The regional director of DA-7 said that it would be better if their office is given the opportunity to identify projects that will benefit the poor farmers.
“Maayo unta gyud og ibalik na dire sa amo ang pag-identify kun asa nagkinahanglan og farm to market road, kami ang mag-implement, kami sad ang mag-verify kun implemented ba gyud (It would be better if the task of identifying which areas need farm to market roads is given back to us, we will also implement them and do the verification if they are fully implemented),” he said.
According to him, while the national government is preoccupied with the big-ticket projects under the Build, Build, Build programs of the Duterte administration, small projects like farm to market roads are only second in priority by the public works department.
“Usahay makalimtan lang sa DPWH (Sometimes DPWH tends to forget), especially projects which have a cost of PHP5 to PHP7 million,” he said.
Diputado said as of the moment, the DA in Central Visayas is limited at verifying if those farm to market road projects proposed by congressmen and implemented by the DPWH-7 are realized.
Meanwhile, the DA regional office in Central Visayas is now monitoring rehabilitation efforts at the 5.7-kilometer farm-to-market road from Anonang Sur to Lambusan in Bogo City, in Cebu.
The DA-7 Facebook page said around 1,052 households are expected to benefit from this PHP57-milion worth of road network that connects the said farming villages to the market in Bogo City and to this city.
Another rehabilitation work in the 2.7-kilometer Kinawahan-to-Canagahan, San Remegio Cebu farm to market road is 70-percent finished. (PNA)
