Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel is pushing for the construction of more farm-to-market roads in Mindanao next year to unlock the potentials of isolated agricultural corridors in the island, with top priorities including the development of more roads in Sultan Kudarat province and Liguasan Marsh. Sultan Kudarat is the country’s major coffee producer, while Liguasan Marsh is the largest wetland in the nation. Tiu Laurel committed to build more roads in Sultan Kudarat to increase coffee production and noted that hundreds of billions of pesos in untapped agricultural value can be unlocked once isolated farmlands are connected to commercial hubs. The Department of Agriculture will regain full control of the government’s farm-to-market road construction program next year and plans to invest P2 billion for roads in Sultan Kudarat, which could open up 35,000 hectares of new farmlands, and potentially 300,000 hectares in Liguasan Marsh. The department also plans to reinforce new agricultural corridors with post-harvest facilities, including cold storage units, dryers, silos, and logistics links, and will implement a transparency system featuring time-lapse cameras and a farm-to-market portal to monitor project progress.
