Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Benguet as model cold chain province?
BENGUET could become the model for the food chain project in the country, once the system being worked out for the province is completed.
Arnel Apaga of the Bureau of Post-harvest Research and Extension said the province will be the first to have a complete cold chain system in the country and will be the model for this program.
Apaga said there is still no complete cold chain facility in the country.
Benguet has been receiving funding for the establishment of cold storage facilities, farm-to-market roads, reefer vans and tram line systems to address the farmer's clamor for government intervention on their plight.
Apaga said the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ), which was created under government's super regions program, allowed bigger support to the completion of the cold chain project.
In 2004, the cold storage facility was established at Wangal in La Trinidad to help farmers combat the effect of vegetable importation and smuggling by improving the quality of their crops to be able to compete with the imported ones.
This was not maximized however, due to some gaps, which include the absence of a pre-cooling facility near the farms, lack of reefer vans to transport the vegetables, and absence of high end markets where these crops are supplied.
Apaga said cold chain could reduce farmers' losses by 30 percent.
The DA funded several facilities and infrastructure projects to realize the program.
Among these include the put-up of the P5 million worth processing plant in La Trinidad, establishment of tramlines and construction of more farm-to-market roads to shorten the travel time of vegetables from the farms to the market.
DA officials recently inspected the progress of NLAQ project in Benguet and part of Mountain Province. (JC)
