The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Cotabato Province, in partnership with the provincial government, officially turned over a 2.172-kilometer farm-to-market road (FMR) worth PHP50 million on Wednesday in Purok 1, Barangay Paraiso, Tulunan town.

The project is expected to lower the cost of transporting goods and products to market, thereby increasing farmers’ income.

In a Thursday statement, DAR-Agrarian Reform Fund (ARF) Director Lita M. Rosales, representing Undersecretary for Support Services Office (SSO) Josef Angelo S. Martires, said the project, funded by the ARF, will benefit 2,032 beneficiaries and the community as a whole by improving access to markets and essential services and reducing the cost of transporting agricultural products.

“The FMR will open greater opportunities for the beneficiaries by lowering the cost of transporting their produce to the market,” Rosales said.

Rosales said the project advances DAR Secretary Conrado M. Estrella III’s goal of supporting agriculture with interventions such as FMRs, improving access and market links for agrarian reform beneficiaries and farming communities.

Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza thanked Estrella for responding to the provincial government’s request for the FMR.

Mendoza said the FMR will create opportunities not only for residents of Barangay Paraiso but also for adjacent communities by improving accessibility and making it easier to transport agricultural products.

Expressing gratitude, Paraiso Barangay Captain Regino S. Talingting Jr. thanked Secretary Estrella and the provincial and municipal governments for selecting their village as the project’s recipient. (PNA)