Rising fuel costs amid the Middle East conflict forced the Department of Agriculture (DA) to delay by about one month the implementation of nationwide farm-to-market road (FMR) projects.
The agency originally targeted to begin construction of FMR projects in April. It received a budget allocation of P33 billion under the 2026 General Appropriations Act, covering 1,605 projects.
However, the DA plans to start the bidding process next month as it recalibrates construction costs.
‘We expect that by May, we will begin the procurement process for all these bidding activities,’ Agriculture Undersecretary Arrey Perez said in an interview.
Standardizing budget
Perez said the DA is closely coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to standardize the price per kilometer of FMR in the pipeline.
‘Our challenge now is that because fuel prices are rising, we cannot finalize the costing per kilometer of our road projects,’ he told reporters.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa, also the DA’s spokesperson, said: ‘If we insist on using the previous costing, the bidding will likely fail. We need to make the necessary adjustments to ensure that our procurement and implementation are successful.’
Despite these delays, Perez assured that the ongoing FMR projects being undertaken by other agencies would continue.
Takeover
The DA assumed responsibility for constructing FMR projects from the DPWH, effective this year, following corruption concerns over the government’s infrastructure projects.
Although the DA is the lead implementing agency, it is allowed to partner with government agencies, local government units or private entities to complete these projects.
The agency has adopted various measures to ensure transparency and proper implementation, such as auditing FMR projects and launching the FMR transparency portal, where stakeholders can monitor projects or report any issues.
Based on the DA’s digital portal, the government had invested P109.53 billion to develop FMR projects between 2021 and 2026 covering 6,428 projects.
Of these, 3,135 projects have been completed with a total length of 2,399.85 kilometers.