The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development revealed that the government has kicked off the construction of a new cableway for the farmers to transport their agricultural products to the nearest trading center.

DoST-PCIEERD executive director Enrico Paringit stressed that the project will help address infrastructure needs of the upland communities in the province. The project was funded under the DoST Grants-In-Aid Program amounting to P13 million.

Paringit also expressed optimism that the project will provide opportunities for innovation which will uplift the lives of upland farmers in the area.

"We hope that through this project, we can ease the burden of our farmers in bringing their produce from farm to table and increase their productivity," Paringit said.

"As a leader and partner in innovation, DoST-PCIEERD will continue to harness the power of science and technology in making the lives of our citizens easier," he added.

The DoST-PCIEERD and the DoST Cordillera Administrative Region Regional Office led the ceremonial groundbreaking of the project for the agricultural transport system in Bauko, Mountain Province to help address the infrastructure needs of the upland communities in the province.

Paringit said the Cable Ways for Agricultural Resource Transport System will allow communities to transport their agricultural produce to the nearest trading center through a tramline.

"The prototype of the project will be in Bauko which will be equipped with a first-person-view system and an electric motor which can be utilized via variable-frequency drive with a smart control system or can be done through a mobile application," Paringit said.

For her part, project leader Janice Kaye Aquino said the FPV system is small, light, and highly responsive cameras and the system itself is battery operated, thus allowing the operator to have an almost real-time first-person-view of what is caught by the cameras.

The project is under Program Boondock: A Mountain Engineering Center Toward Sustainable Infrastructure and Upland Water Security and is expected to be completed in May next year.