Agribusiness corridor to link regional agricultural industries

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO— The vision is simple— link up all major regional agriculture industries in hubs that will make up the backbone of an agri-industrial business corridor (ABC) sustaining and driving rural agricultural industrialization.

And Secretary William Dar believes that Central Luzon provinces play a crucial role in the corridor project that aims to connect major agricultural markets in the Cordilleras, Northern Luzon, Central Luzon and eventually Metro Manila.

“Pampanga and Tarlac, through New Clark City (NCC) has it all. There is an airport, an expressway that connects to Subic Freeport and major roads that connect to other areas in Luzon. Logistically, it is the perfect place to put up an agri-industrial hub,” Dar told this reporter in an interview early this week.

Dar said that NCC has what it takes to drive the corridor’s success through its strategic location. With Central Luzon at its doorstep, NCC has access to vast agricultural resources and provides easy access to Northern and Southern Luzon areas.

Through Pampanga, the NCC is easily accessible through the national highway and three expressways: Northern Luzon Expressway,

Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), and Tar l ac–Pangasi nan–La Union Expressway.

The NCC’s connection to vital production areas is a perfect opportunity to jump start rural agriprocessing, according to Dar, eventually encouraging more agriculture industries and prop up rural industrialization.

To start the program, the ABC has a funding component of P300 million.

Integrating food and product supply chain

Central Luzon provinces play a vital role in the project in terms of the vast agricultural resources ripe for agri-industrial processing.

Dar highlighted the considerable role that Central Luzon’s various industries can contribute to the program.

Central Luzon’s total palay production was estimated at 663,358 metric tons constituting 15.6 percent of the total palay production in the country in the first quarter of 2020.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that Central Luzon still remained as the top palay producer despite the 9.1 percent decrease in the volume of production compared to that of the first quarter of 2019.

Central Luzon is also home to a strong poultry industry. As of January 1, 2019, Central Luzon had the highest broiler inventory in the country accounting for 26.60 percent of the country’s entire supply according to the PSA.