The Farmers of Sitio Duskit and Sitio Coga-ongan

  About threee kilometers from the highway, one would see the expanseof farmlands tilled by the village farmers since time immemorial.

During the construction of the 14MW Sabangan hydro plant, a 3.

5 kilometer road opened connecting the existing road in Sitio Poblacion to Sitio Coga-ongan and Sitio Duskit.

Farmers growing upland rice and high land vegetables are benefiting from the smooth transport of their product since the road opening. Carrying farm produce by foot is already a thing of the past.

Gone are the days when the farmers starts trekking the man-made path early at dawn to prepare for the harvest. And after hours and hours of reaping fine loads of wombok, cabbages or rice grains, their battle with the trekking starts again -- but this time it will be more challenging with the loads they have to carry.

From Sitio Duskit, the farmers start carrying sacks of vegetable or grains going to Sitio Cogo-ongan. By this time, dusk begins to eat away the little light that guides their path. They will need to spend the night here to rest their tired body and get enough strength to continue the journey going to Sitio Poblacion before the sun breaks the next day. From there a truck will be waiting to transport the products to the market using the existing road going to the highway.

These hardships is doubled during the rainy season. They will have to pass through steep and slippery path and at time cross the raging Chico River.

The road did not only reduce travelling time for the farmers but also helped lessen their struggle of transporting their produce. With the road leading to their farms, transport has never been this smooth.