|
By Ira Karen Apanay, Senior Reporter
THE Department of Agriculture and the local
government of La Trinidad in Benguet will open a P9-million modern
fruit and vegetable processing facility to improve the province’s
prospects of selling more of its highland crops both here and
abroad.
In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap,
Director Ricardo Cachuela of the Bureau of Post-Harvest Research and
Extension (BPRE) said this project would help accelerate the
development of the Northern Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ),
one of the five super regions under President Arroyo’s economic
development strategy. Benguet is a key agricultural player in
Northern Luzon with over 30,000 hectares planted to upland
vegetables and fruits.
“This facility is part of the government’s
commitment to build a national cold chain program to preserve the
high quality of Philippine vegetables and reduce post-production
losses, which could run as high as 50 percent, due to poor storage
and processing practices,” Cachuela said.
Cachuela said 200,000 small farmers in Northern
Luzon are expected to benefit from the said project.
Yap has given top priority to the establishment
of dryers and post-harvest facilities and marketing assistance to
producers to further raise agricultural productivity and farmers’
incomes. He also is pushing for irrigation maintenance, fertilizer
and seed support, credit facilitation, research and development, and
extension work.
The Agriculture department said the local
government provided the site in the La Trinidad trading post for the
establishment of the processing and packaging facility while the
BPRE provided a counterpart fund of P9 million to cover
infrastructure and equipment costs.
Cachuela said the Benguet facility will run for
three shifts a day, cleaning, packing and storing vegetables
intended for institutional and high-end markets in Metro Manila as
well as for Dole Philippines‘ overseas markets.
Dole will operate on part time the facility
under a lease agreement with the municipal government of La
Trinidad, he said.
The facility, which can process at least six
metric tons of vegetables a day or at least two metric tons per
shift, will spell higher incomes for farmers because the modern
packing and cleaning techniques used in the plant will help reduce
post-harvest losses, Cachuela said.
|
