Dar approves food processing facility

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has vowed that dumping of harvest in Benguet and nearby provinces will not happen again, especially with the planned construction of a ₱20-million food processing facility in La Trinidad.

In a statement released over the weekend, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Dar already approved the proposal for the establishment of the said facility which should complement the existing Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) in La Trinidad.

The facility targets to cater to vegetables and fruits produced by thousands of farmers in Benguet and nearby provinces in the Cordilleras and should prevent wastage and losses during peak season.

“There should be no reason for farmers to lose when harvest is abundant. Dumping will not happen again,” said Dar.

The funding for the facility’s construction will be released by the DA’s Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) to the Benguet State University, which currently oversees the management of the BAPTC.

Early this month, farmers from Tinoc, Ifugao were reportedly dumping tomatoes for lack of buyers and access to markets.

Following this, the DA in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) enhanced its marketing channels particularly the Kadiwa Express to find buyers.

“We have also negotiated with other vegetable buyers to purchase tomatoes from farmers in Tinoc and adjoining areas,” said Cameron Odsey, DA’s regional director in CAR.

As of June 14, the Tinoc farmers were already linked to eleven groups of new buyers, purchasing a total of 26 metric tons (MT) of tomatoes. This week, the farmers were able to sell 18.5 MT of tomatoes worth ₱166,000.

Seven other private buyerentities committed to procure vegetables from other production areas in the region, Odsey said.

Dar said the aforementioned food processing center will not only serve as a processing hub but also as a learning and training site for farmers interested to process their harvest into other high-value products.

This should provide farmers additional income and will transform them into processors, the DA chief said.

“We want our Filipino farmers to be more than growers. We want them to become entrepreneurs. This move will level up their game, and give them more financial benefits,” he further said.