DA 11, Samal LGU turn over agri facilities

ISLAND GARDEN City of Samal -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) 11, in partnership with City Agriculture’s office of the local government unit of Samal Island, turnedover a centralized srting and packinghouse facility for mango and various farm machineries and equipment to the island's cooperatives on April 18, 2018 at Sitio Maag, Poblacion Penaplata, Samal District.

Samal Island Mango Marketing Cooperative (SIMMCO) was the beneficiary of the centralized sorting and packing house while the Grains Multipurpose cooperative, Tagbaobo-Aumbay irrigators Association, and Libuak Farmers-fisher folk irrigators Association were the recipients of the small farm high value crops equipment and machineries.

The centralized sorting and packinghouse facility will serve as a common dispatch point of mango products where traders, producers, and consumers will have one common area to meet for trading transactions.

The facility will serve as a means to improve the handling of products, especially fresh fruits, to ensure good quality. With this, farmers will be able to demand a much better selling price and can compete with other mango producing areas for export. This facility is also seen to help alleviate the living standards of the mango stakeholders in Samal Island.

“Only the Island Garden City of Samal has the sorting and packing house among of the mango producers in Davao Region. Philippine is one of the good producers of sweet mango, sadly some mango producer in Davao region did not sustain it.