Tramlines better than farm-to-market roads

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Center for Post-Harvest Development and Mechanization (DA-Phil-mech) plans to put up 54 more tramlines nationwide by the end of this year, following the benefit it has brought to farmers in remote areas.

Farmers in areas where there are still no farm to market roads are relying instead on agricultural tramlines.

The tramlines, made of steel cable, pulleys and steel cage “cable car” or carriage, are cheaper, more efficient and are a faster mode of transport for farm products from isolated areas to the nearest road onto trading posts or public markets.

The tramlines are the idea of   DA-PhilMech engineers.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala has acknowledged that “agricultural tramlines are indeed more cost-efficient than constructing farm-to-market roads (FMRs).”

According to Alcala, “a tramline is cheaper and faster to complete than an FMR.”

Alcala recently inaugurated the 53rd DA-PhilMech tramline at Sitio Bawek, Barangay Twin Peaks in the town of Tuba, Benguet.

The Twin Peaks tramline benefits two dozen farm-families who plant 25 hectares to snap beans, garden peas, gabi and ube (yam), ginger, banana, mango, and vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, potatoes and carrots.

The Twin Peaks farmers’ association is headed by Tirso Torres.

Before the construction of the tramline, Torres said farmers manually carried their products on their back, trekking a four-kilometer mountain trail for two to three hours up to the nearest drop off point along Kennon Road.

Other farmers hired “kargador”’ or porters for a fee of P2 per kilo or P100 for a 50-kilo sack of various products.

With the tramline, travel time is cut down to three to five minutes, covering a distance of 452 meters, between the unloa-ding area near Kennon Road and the loading area atop a hill.

Twin Peaks farmers now save up to P700 per trip in porters’ fees, as the tramline can carry up to 350 kilos of various farm products.

The tramline—constructed in October 2010 and completed in just three months in December 2010—is a joint undertaking of the DA-PhilMech with the municipality of Tuba and Twin Peaks farmers’ association.

The additional 54 tramlines that the DA-Philmech plans to put up will feature “double-decker” carriages that can also ferry people, particularly during emergency situations.

The DA-Philmech has four prototypes with modified carriages which can carry up to 500 kilos— composed of both farm products (weighing at least 260 kilos) and up to four persons weighing an average of 60 kilos each.

The modified tramline will be launched in Sariaya, Quezon next month.

The cost of construction of a tramline ranges from P1.3 million to P1.9 million—depending on the topography, distance and length of cable system.

It could be completed in two to three months.