Investment on Rural Infrastructure

The key to the development of any locality is infrastructure development, and it is in this area where the Provincial Government made huge investments.

The equipment pool of the Provincial Engineering Office was beefed-up followed by the implementation of a province wide maintenance, rehabilitation, and concreting of key provincial and barangay roads that would better connect our rural farming communities with the market while improving their accessibility for the delivery of basic services.

In cooperation with the Mindanao Rural Development Program and the Department of Public Works and Highways, infrastructure projects which included the rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads, construction of spring development projects, communal irrigation projects, bridges, flood control/drainage and installation of water systems were implemented.

With the approval of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the provincial government entered a new phase in its rural infrastructure development with the acquisition of a P38-M asphalt batching plant and other additional infrastructure equipment totaling about P60-M.

Asphalting of provincial roads started with the Libungan-Alamada-Banisilan Road and other heavily-used provincial road networks including those in the city of Kidapawan.

The North Cotabato Rural Airport

As a landlocked province, the Provincial Government realized that the only option left to Cotabateños in shipping out perishable produce- fruits from orchards and freshwater marine products from a number of municipalities- and ensuring they arrive fresh in markets in the Visayas and Luzon would be by air.

The availability of a secondary airport would also improve the accessibility of the province to potential investors, and provide additional job opportunities for the local labor force.

This realization gave birth to the North Cotabato Rural Airport, a 64-hectare airport project at Tawan-tawan, M’lang, which is the most important infrastructure project implemented in the province.

The provincial government bought the area for P12.8 Million while former Senator John Osmeña contributed P2.7-M for the pre-engineering works.

Through the efforts of Governor Emmanuel F. Piñol, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the PNOC-EDC to release to the province through the Department of Energy P40-M for the initial development of the airport project. This initial amount was used to finance the construction of the terminal building, the flight service system building and the first phase of the runway.

Provincial Tractor Pool

Helping Cotabato farmers increase their production required increasing their ability to work their lands. Governor Piñol embarked on a carabao dispersal program early in his administration and later moved towards providing more modern agricultural services to farmers through a provincial tractor pool.

The provincial government acquired 22 units of tractors which provided field preparation services through cost recovery scheme to farmers financially incapable of procuring farm equipment and implements.

The tractors acquired in 2003 served a total area of 5,877 hectares in various municipalities around the province in the first year or operation alone.

The setting up of the tractor pool also provided jobs for the operators.

With the tractor pool, the provincial government scaled down its carabao dispersal program and encouraged farmers instead to avail of the mechanized farming program of the province.

Policy Redirection from Traditional to Market-Oriented Agriculture

The most important shift in Cotabato’s agricultural direction occurred with the executive and the legislative departments agreeing that the province must have a market-oriented agriculture.

The positive experience of a number of LGUs with the expanding Cavendish banana industry in the province shows that focusing on agricultural commodities that are highly marketable and globally in demand could boost local development even further.

The Provincial Government identified four major products to be given massive support: cardava banana, hybrid coconut with the support of the Philippine Coconut Authority, oil palm and rubber.

Cotabato is currently harvesting not less than 1 million kilos of Cavendish and lacatan bananas every week.

It has 38,694.74 hectares planted to coconut, which is continuously being expanded in cooperation with the Philippine Coconut Authority and the office of 2^nd Congressional District Representative Bernardo F. Piñol, Jr. who has chosen intensified production of high-value crops as his main advocacy in combating poverty in the countryside.

The province meanwhile has more than 4,000 hectares of oil palm plantation. A Filipino-Malaysian consortium has developed an oil palm nursery in the province and is currently producing planting materials good for an additional 1,000 hectares.

Rubber has been among the leading high-value products of the province. North Cotabato has 28,818.31 hectares planted to rubber.

P7.2 Million was invested in 2005 for the development of these high-value commercial crops. In 2006, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved the allocation of an additional P10 million for rubber and another P10 million for oil palm development.

SUMMING UP

In 2007, the strategy of the provincial government in improving the lives of the people of Cotabato not only gained recognition but was also validated when the province joined the country’s Top 30 Performers in Good Governance.

Cotabato was ranked by the National Statistics Coordination Board 17^th among the leading performers in the area of good governance, and 10^th among the most improved provinces in economic governance.

Governor Piñol, now the Vice Governor of the province, has said that land is Cotabato’s most valuable resource that needs to be fully utilized.

“Our dream to improve the lives of our people can be best achieved by making use of all resources available so that each farmer is given the opportunity to improve his income, and in so doing trigger off a surge of economic activities that would open up other opportunities for progress to every Cotabateño.”

The effort to effectively address the nagging problem of poverty and its after-effects, therefore continues with interventions aimed at developing the agriculture sector. This is where Cotabato’s hope rests.