DA to build more Taguig cold storage facilities

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to construct more cold storage facilities at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) in Taguig City as part of its strategy to address overproduction and minimize post-harvest losses of agricultural products, particularly vegetables and other high-value crops.

In a statement yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. shared his plan of constructing a chiller warehouse dedicated to vegetables and other high-value crops at a 1.3-hectare section of the FTI property.

Laurel said the facility would be equipped with a processing plant and trading area, and prioritize farmers’ produce for buffer stocking.

“The project will cost P500 million and will require 12 months to complete,” the DA said.

Laurel said half of the warehouse would be allocated to the coil system, while the other half of the facility would be evaporator type.

In a briefing with FTI officials, Laurel acknowledged the problem of the time to time oversupply of tomatoes and cabbage.

“That’s why there is a need to immediately put up storage in the FTI. My direction is to build a network for chilled cold storage systems,” Laurel said.

The Agriculture chief also told FTI officials to purchase excess produce of farmers and supply them to Kadiwa centers.

“If there is overproduction, instead of throwing it away, the FTI should buy it so we can put it in the Kadiwa program,” he said in Filipino.

“The plan is also to strengthen the Kadiwa program of the DA. I plan to bring back the Kadiwa to the FTI after two years,” he said.

Laurel highlighted the department’s plan to centralize all agriculture logistics management matters, including FTI, to the soon-to-be-formed logistics office of the DA.

“I will move all the cold storage of the DA to the logistics office, which will conduct research and inventory of all facilities within the Philippines to ensure synchronization,” he said.