The recently completed road extension project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to improve the productivity of agroforestry farms and livelihood of upland farmers in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija.

 

Paquito Moreno, executive director of the DENR in Central Luzon, noted that the more than one-kilometer road extension in Barangay Bunga-Dilaing Bato would not only provide communities better accessibility and mobility to goods and services, but would likewise help partner people’s organizations in protecting the 4,914-hectare reforested area of the Seguim Subwatershed.

 

“As an agroforestry support facility of our Forestland Management Project (FMP) in Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed, this infrastructure project is seen as supplementary to the local government’s efforts to provide social services, boost the local economy and guarantee food security,” he said.

 

Moreno reported that this facility would be added to the completed access roads of Sitio Sinipit-Sitio Pamalyan in Barangay Conversion in Pantabangan and Dilaing Bato-Calo-Mambeja in Barangay R. A. Padilla in Carranglan which both connect farm areas to market towns.

 

“Apart from facilitating a greener path for our farmers and our environment, we want to help communities improve their vehicular and pedestrian mobility that lessen potential damage and transportation cost of agricultural products,” Moreno ended.

 

The opening of the road extension was strengthened with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DENR and the municipal government of Carranglan, where the latter, in coordination with FMP Partner Peoples' Organization Tapil Bunga Farmers Association, Inc., would be responsible for maintaining and operating the completed subproject.

 

For his part, Barangay Bunga Captain Faustino Natividad expressed his gratitude for the benefit the project would bring to the community and vowed to help in its maintenance activities.

 

Launched in 2012, FMP is a 10-year reforestation project that aims to rehabilitate the Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed, one of the biggest protected areas in Central Luzon, and to strengthen forestland management through the implementation of a collaborative community-based forest management strategy.

 

It integrates conservation and development-oriented activities with participation and capacity-building of local communities to rehabilitate degraded forestlands in three critical river basins, including Upper Magat and Cagayan in Region 2, Upper Pampanga in Region 3, and Jalaur in Iloilo. (-30-)