3 new tramlines to benefit tribal communities

The Department of Agriculture – Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has completed the construction of three tramlines in Mindanao which will greatly benefit tribal and indigenous communities who rely on vegetable farming for their livelihood.
The completed tramlines are located in the municipalities of Maragusan and New Bataan in Compostela Valley, and in Barangay Kapatagan, Digos City in Davao del Sur, which are all upland farming communities.
Each of the three tramlines have a length of at least one kilometer and coast at least P1 million to construct.  These were completed during the last quarter of the year.
PhilMech Executive Director Ricardo Cachuela said that the tramlines in Maragusan (Compostela Valley) and Barangay Kapatagan (Davao del Sur) will benefit members of the Mansaka Tribe who have gone into vegetable farming, while the tramline in New Bataan (Compostela Valley) will benefit the Mandayaw tribe who have gone into farming.
“With the new tramline, the tribal communities engaged in vegetable farming in the three localities now have a stronger link with their markets because the tramlines make it more efficient for them to transport their vegetables to the trading posts,” Cachuela said.
The major markets for the vegetables grown in the three localities are Davao city, Cagayan de Oro and other major urban cities in Mindanao.
The tramline in New Bataan (Compostela Valley) will serve at least 30 hectares of farmland which are planted to vegetables by mostly members of the Mandayaw tribe, while the one in Maragusan will serve at least 75 hectares of land cultivated mostly by members of the Mansaka tribe.  The tramline in Barangay Kapatagan will serve at least 100 hectares of land tended mostly by members of the Mansaka tribe.
When the tramline were not yet established, the farmers in the three localities had to pay at least P50 to transport one large basket (kaing) of vegetables to the trading posts.  The only way to transport vegetables in the uplands was through human labor or horses.
With the tramlines, the cost has been reduced to P10 to P15 per large basket, while postharvest losses has been reduced from around 20% to 50%.
“The economic impact of the tramlines on agriculture communities can never be discounted,” Cachuela sad.
The three new finished tramlines in Mindanao is part of the more than 100 tramlines that the PhilMech will construct in various farming communities nationwide.