The Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) participatory monitoring and tracking (PMT) reports revealed that farm-to-market roads (FMRs) in Eastern Visayas have provided beneficiaries with improved mobility and easier access to government services such as schools and health centers. 

The PMT activity conducted on September 18 to 23, 2022, looked into nine FMR projects in Leyte: three FMR projects in Biliran, and one FMR project in Samar, which are now completed and serviceable to farmers and residents.

The farmer-beneficiaries have a reduced travel time when transporting agricultural inputs and agricultural goods to and from markets. 

However, the reports revealed that some FMR recipients still need to undertake training on road maintenance. Thus, the need for training on road maintenance and road cleanliness was deemed necessary by the PMT team. 

The PMT team also monitored farm equipment and machinery distributed to farmer associations and cooperatives in the region. The farm equipment and machinery include multi-cultivators, a corn husker-sheller, and a feed mill, which are currently utilized and well-maintained by the beneficiaries.

Some recipient farmer organizations and cooperatives are still non-DA-accredited Civil Society Organizations (CSO). The PMT team thus recommends that the DA and Local Government Units follow up and encourage recipient organizations to apply for CSO accreditation at their respective DA Regional Field Offices.

The PMT team, composed of technical staff from PCAF and the Agricultural and Fishery Councils (AFCs) from Eastern Visayas, was accompanied and assisted by the provincial and municipal agriculture staff. 

PMT activities are rigorously conducted through combined project visitations (ocular inspections, geo-tagging, and documentation), Key Informant Interviews, Focused Group Discussions, and document reviews. 

 

PMT is a function of PCAF, which aims to ensure that the DA’s budget is allocated effectively and executed efficiently and to promote transparency and accountability in all actions, transactions, and services of the DA. | SMA