By Peter Vila, Jr.
LA TRINIDAD, Bengue/, Philip[pinest – Mayor Roderick Awingan says the plan of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to establish a post-harvest and vegetable facility within the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) here is welcome and will benefit local farmers.
Awingan expressed his elation after the DA, which wants to build the facility early next year, will curb spoilage and protect highland farmers from post-harvest losses during peak harvest season.
In a message, Awingan said: “The (post-harvest and vegetable) facility will surely be a big boost to the income of the farmers.” He added: “We welcome the initiative since it enhances the value chain of local vegetables.“
In issuing Department Order 31, which Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed last Tuesday, October 6 and posted on the DA website on Wednesday, October 7, the DA said: “The project shall be undertaken to reduce post-harvest losses and deterioration of product value, preserve and retain the high quality and market value of highland vegetable produce, provide additional and reliable cold-chain capacity for Benguet’s highland vegetable industry, and strengthen and modernize the BAPTC’s capacity to serve farmers and facilitate the efficient movement of highland vegetable produce to markets,….”
The order wants the facility to be developed “within the existing BAPTC compound to significantly expand Northern Luzon’s cold-chain infrastructure.”
Tui Laurel wants the construction to start in the first quarter of next year, the facility with the 1.5 hectare BAPTC compound “will feature expanded cold storage infrastructure, blast-freezing units, Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) lines, automated washing, packing and repacking facilities, digital inventory management platforms, and dedicated environmental facilities for wastewater treatment and organic waste management.”
The order likewise saw the creation of a committee “to oversee, coordinate and monitor the planning, funding, construction and eventual turnover and operationalization of the project.”
By signing the order, the DA created the BAPTC Postharvest and Vegetable Processing Facility Project Management and Monitoring Committee (BAPTC PVPF-PMMC) with Undersecretary for Agro-Marine Industrial Systems as chair.
The committee members will include the DA Operations and Agri-Fisheries Mechanization and for Rural Credit, High-Value Crops Development, Agricultural and Fisheries Logistics Office, Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (AMAS), and Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI).
The newly established committee, the order said: “shall secure a usufruct agreement over the project site with Benguet State University (BSU), execute a tripartite memorandum of agreement among DA, BSU and FTI, and manage the competitive selection of a private sector operator to manage and maintain the complex.”
The DA Regional Field Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-CAR), Agricultural and Fisheries Logistics Office (AFLO), and the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) will provide administrative and technical support. Vegetable over-production has caused losses to Benguet farmers. Many of them refuse to bring their produce to the market expecting bigger losses and instead have the same rot.
