The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) in Caraga Region in partnership with Local Government Units recently breaks ground with two infrastructure projects totaling P158 Million.

These are the Construction of the P50 Million Communal Irrigation System (CIS) in Barangay Poblacion, Rosario Agusan del Sur and the Construction of the 3.62 km Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) in Barangay R.E. Ecleo, San Jose, Province of Dinagat Islands amounting to P108 Million.

The Construction of 4.76 km Main Canal with Structures of the Limbatangan CIS in Rodario has a length of 4,961 meters with 23 units of canal structures to serve 264 hectares of rice area in Barangay Libuac, Poblacion and Tagbayan.

The said project is seen to increase rice production from 3 metric tons to 4 metric tons per hectare for conventional rice farming and 3 metric tons to 3.6 metric tons per hectare for natural farming. In addition, a total of 1,623 households or 8,226 individuals would benefit from the project after its completion.

“We thank the government for giving us this project. I believe that this intervention would enable us to expand our production area,” said Jimmy Magbanua, Vice Chairperson of Limbatangan Farmers Irrigators’ Association.

On the other hand, the construction of R. Ecleo–Upper Laguna FMR will benefit 1,571 farming and fishing households in San Jose, Dinagat Island and would allow better access to and from the agricultural production areas, public market and processing centers, and government social service centers.