BANSUD, ORIENTAL MINDORO. Farmers of Sitio Abukadohan in Barangay Conrazon, Bansud , Oriental Mindoro will never be burden by manually hauling their produce to the market as Department of Agriculture-MiMaRoPa’s (DA-MiMaRoPa) agricultural tramline opens in their area.
The said sitio is located in an upland area of Barangay Conrazon where more than 100 family-farmers plant banana, ginger, lanzones, rambutan and other fruit bearing trees.
“Halos 50% ng inaani ng mga magsasaka dito ay hindi nadadala dahil sa hirap sa pagta-transport,” said by Demetrio Alinio, Bansud Municipal Agriculturist.
Farmers manually carry or use carabao carriage to traverse 8 km. of ravines and rough roads before they could reach the market to sell their produce.
But with the tramline that is 1.7km in length with the 350kg capacity to carry agricultural produce, farmers can cut down the travel time to 17 minutes from a half day of transportation.
This could also help lessen the hauling cost because farmers will now pay per kilo instead of per piece of their farm produce. Before, they have to pay .50 cents per piece of their farm produce for manual hauling, but now they will pay Php 1.00 per kilo.
Aside from reducing the travel time and transportation cost, the tramline could also help maintain the quality of their produce because of the convenient hauling.
“Malaking kaginhawaan at tulong ang magagawa nito para sa ating mga magsasaka dahil hindi na mababawasan ang kalidad ng kanilang mga produkto,” Farmer Director Melquiades Macalintal said in his message during the inauguration ceremony.
The said project was turned over and blessed on May 30, 2017, with Dr. Louella Rowena Lorenzana, OIC-Regional Director and the designated Farmer Director for the celebration of Farmers and Fisherfolk Month.
“Bilin ko lamang po sa inyo na pangalagaan at pahalagahan ang tramline upang humaba ang serbisyo at mapakinabang nating lahat,” said by Dr. Lorenzana as she thanks the community for warmly accepting the DA’s project for them.
Mayor Angel Saulong, Bgy. Captain Wilson Mirano, DA’s Chief of Operations Ronie Panoy, Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer Collete Quindong, Regional High-Value Crop Development (HVCD) Program Coordinator Corazon Sinnung also grace the ceremony.
The tramline was funded by the DA-MiMaRoPa’s HVCD Program with a total cost of Php5.5 million.
