NEWSFLASH

MORE POST-HARVEST FACILITIES IN PROVINCES PLANNED

Manila, Feb. 16, 2000 - Erap admin to build more post-harvest facilities this year In line with its commitment to ensure national food security through agricultural modernization, the Estrada administration is planning to build at least 15 cold-storage facilities in various food-producing provinces in the country this year.

Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said this initiative will not only help farmers maintain the quality of their produce, but would also help keep prices of farm products stable.

He noted that the DA has, for instance, built cold storage facilities in Baguio City, one of the centers of the country's cut-flower industry, and in La Trinidad in Benguet, a vegetable-growing area, to help farmers preserve the quality of their products when they reach retail areas in Metro Manila.

"Para kung halimbawa ay nagkarga sila ng 20-25 tons ng vege-edibles, pagdating sa Divisoria ay 25 tons pa rin, dahil hindi babagsak ang timbang at hindi nagkakaroon ng evaporation. Ang iniisip ng DA, batay na rin sa palatuntunan ngayong year 2000, makapaggawa kami ng at least 15 cold storage facilities (For exampke, if they transport 20-25 tons of vege-edibles, when they reach Divisoria it will still be of the same weight. Its weight will not drop since no evaporation would take place when you keep it in cold storage. The DA is targeting to build at least 15 cold storage facilities this year)," he said.

Panganiban said the DA is also tapping the support of the private sector in building these post-harvest facilities. He pointed out that the cold storage facilities built in Isabela and Cagayan Valley were built by private businessmen who want to strengthen trade ties with their counterparts in nearby Taiwan.

"So ang gusto ng Taiwan is ang trading nila between Cagayan and Ilocos Norte ay through air freight, from Laoag. So nagtayo ang private sector ng kanilang mismong cold storage. Hindi lang para sa mga vege-edibles, pati isda (Taiwan wants trading with Cagayan and Ilocos Norte through air freight. So the private sector in these two provinces built their own cold storage not only for vege-edibles but for fish as well)," Panganiban said.

With the commitment of provincial governors, the Estrada administration is confident it can meet its target of making the country self-sufficient in rice by the year 2001, in fish by 2002 and in corn by 2004.

The country’s agricultural output expanded by 6.49 percent in 1999, overshooting the 6 percent growth target and almost wiping out the 7.18 percent production drop recorded in the El Niño and La Niña-stricken year of 1998.

Leading the big gainers were palay (unmilled rice) and corn, whose 1999 production value grew 33.85 percent and 10.45 percent, from their respective 1998 level, while volume respectively rose by 37.78 percent and 19.92 percent.