CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Department of Agriculture (DA) officials recently graced the opening of the San Juan-Villa Joson-Porais farm to market road (FMR) in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija which was funded under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP).
“This 5.17 kilometer FMR is the first completed infrastructure subproject of PRDP in Central Luzon. It will support the implementation of the Sikkap San Jose Ampalaya Enterprise, another PRDP subproject that will be managed by three proponent groups that have merged and formed a cooperative called SIKKAP,” PRDP Regional Project Coordination Office 3 Focal Person and DA Regional Technical Director Crispulo Bautista said.
The activity also marked the start of the construction of the ampalaya packing building, which will be used for the post-harvest production of SIKKAP.
During the event, Provincial Agriculturist Serafin Santos recalled the hardship that they went through in order to get the approval of the FMR and ampalaya packing house.
“This FMR is the fruit of our hard work and determination in getting this project. I hope that the three cooperatives will enrich the project given to them by the PRDP. You should work together and be transparent to one another,” Santos said.
The completion of the FMR will result to reduce travel time from farms to markets in barangays San Juan, Villa Joson and Porais.
It will also reduce input and output hauling cost and expand production areas of ampalaya. – Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu
