Senatorial candidate and former Tarlac representative Gilbert Teodoro said he supports the construciton of more farm-to-market roads and other infrastructure across the country that would raise the productivity and competitiveness of local agricultural products.
Teodoro, a former defense secretary, noted there is still a wide disparity on the prices of agricultural products between farm gate and retail prices.
“These farm-to-market roads will help to bring down transport cost of delivering agricultural products to our local wet markets and supermarkets, which according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) shares 27 percent of the total operating cost,” Teodoro said in a statement.
The former lawmaker said he would push more water impounding facilities that would help farmers to avoid severe flooding and mitigate the impacts of drought should he win in the May 2022 elections.
“We need these kinds of infrastructure to improve our agriculture sector and raise the income of our farmers,” he said.
“We should build these (infrastructures) and build these faster,” Teodoro stressed.