Following the groundbreaking rites led by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Provincial Government of Bataan, improvement of the Sitio Nazareno-Culis Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) in Hermosa has commenced.

The 5.72-kilometer FMR will support the hauling of a variety of commodities such as mango, coconut, banana, and upland vegetables.

Mayor Antonio Joseph Inton said the P94-million project will make the transportation of products from the upland to the market easier.

“The current condition of the road makes it impossible for delivery trucks to pick up the farmers’ products during the rainy season and limit their market only in the area due to high cost of transportation,” he shared.

For his part, DA-Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Regional Project Coordination Office I-BUILD Component Head Elmer Tubig said the FMR rehabilitation aims to address these constraints as it will reduce the input and hauling cost and travel time by 50 percent.

“The main objective of this subproject is to connect our agricultural produce from the two barangays—Sitio Nazareno and Culis and efficiently transport them to trading centers and markets,” he explained.

“We expect our contractor, the Viking Construction and Supplies, to efficiently complete the subproject within the set construction period to be able to uplift the social and economic condition of our beneficiaries as soon as possible,” Tubig added.

Meanwhile, Project Support Office – North Luzon Cluster Deputy Project Director Elma Mananes urged the beneficiaries to partake in monitoring of the subproject.

“In PRDP, we want to involve you, the beneficiaries, in the monitoring of the construction. We have a grievance hotline in case you experience or observe any bad practices in the construction of the FMR,” she said. (PIA 3)