BAGUIO CITY – To maintain the quality of agricultural produce and prevent postharvest losses of agricultural products coming from Benguet and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the Department of Agriculture (DA) is currently in the process of determining the construction of heavy-duty tramlines and modular cold solar-powered storage facilities in food production areas in the Cordillera.
In an interview during the “Paella ala Cordillera” presentation in Baguio City as the culminating activity of the Farmers and Fisherfolk Month, DA Assistant Secretary for Logistics Daniel Atayde explained the need for farmers to adopt solar powered cold storage facilities that will help preserve the shelf life of agricultural products in Benguet and other areas in CAR.
“Our plan in the DA is really to put the post-harvest equipment and storage facilities near the farmers which is why we are proposing for a modular cold storage that can run through solar power so that agricultural products can be stored and consolidated properly and not the usual practice of bringing directly the agricultural products to Metro Manila which is in inefficient. We also have to make the delivery schedule efficient so that we can store agriculture products to retain its freshness while having less movement to prevent damage, and we should start with the use proper reefer trucks for deliveries to Metro Manila,” Atayde said.
Aside from the construction of modular cold storage facilities in CAR, the construction of heavy-duty tramlines is now being studied by the department that will help alleviate the travel time and transport costs of farmers in Benguet and other highland areas in the region in delivering their Agricultural products to the market.
“Technically for the Cordillera, technically we saw that heirloom rice and vegetable farms needing tramlines and what we want to do is based on capacity wherein we want to set-up for example 20 toner capacity tramlines to be placed in strategic areas to carry the heirloom rice up to the road, and at the said area, we will be placing post-harvest equipments for dry storage for heirloom rice,” Atayde stated.
DA-Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Engineer Christopher Morales pointed out that the department is currently gathering data and mapping that will form part of the four-year agriculture development plan of DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. for rice and highland vegetables to be implemented during the Marcos administration.
The measure also supports the heirloom rice project of scaling-up technology that will be placed in the Cordillera region, being the leading producer of heirloom rice in the country, that will also support the rehabilitation of rice terraces in CAR starting in 2025.
`“We are starting with the backbone which is the database geo-mapping wherein we are currently mapping out the vegetable areas and rice areas that will help the department identify strategic interventions on different investments like post-harvest facilities, cold storage and others. This has been laid down in the four-year plan of Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. which will include logistics to help decrease prices,” Morales added. By JTLlanes