The Department of Agriculture (DA) plans to build more cold storage facilities at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig City to address overproduction and minimize post-harvest losses of agricultural products, Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said Monday.
‘The immediate problem we see is the oversupply of certain agriculture produce such as tomatoes and cabbages. Thus, the need to strengthen the cold storage facilities at the FTI. My direction is to build a network for chilled cold storage systems,” Tiu Laurel said.
He told FTI officials to purchase excess produce of farmers and supply them to Kadiwa centers. The FTI is a government firm under the Department of Agriculture.
“It will be better if the FTI buys the produce, if there is overproduction, instead of throwing them away. We can still sell those at the Kadiwa centers. The plan is also to strengthen the Kadiwa program of DA. It is my plan to bring back Kadiwa after two years,” he said.
Tiu Laurel underscored 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 relocate all cold storages at the DA to the logistics office, which will conduct research and inventory of all facilities within the Philippines to ensure synchronization,” he said.
The DA is looking to construct a chiller warehouse dedicated to vegetables and other high-value crops at a 1.3-hectare section of the sprawling government property in Taguig City.
The project which will cost P500 million would require 12 months to complete. It will be equipped with a processing plant and trading area and will prioritize farmers’ produce for buffer stocking.
“Half of the warehouse should be allocated to the coil system, the other half to the evaporator type. The evaporator type is for short-term storage of high-value crops. Because there is no circulating fan, moisture is kept within the storage, it will keep things fresh for a longer period,” he said.