INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY — A sprawling food terminal complex, equipped with cold storage, will soon open in the Toril area to serve as the city’s official wholesale trading facility for all fruits and vegetables.
The Davao Food Terminal Complex (DFTC), a P70 -million project funded by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the region, will finally start operations on Oct. 18 in Barangay Daliao, City Agriculturist Edgardo Haspe said.
He said the new facility, located about a kilometer away from the Davao Fishport, would also showcase a cold storage facility with eight refrigeration units to ensure that the farmers’ harvests remain fresh for a long time, although he said, only four of the eight units would be running during the opening.
The wholesale facility, which sits within some five-hectare area of land, is big enough to accommodate a large bulk of farm goods from the city’s vegetable and fruit-producing areas and those coming from neighboring regions, he said.
The facility will serve as the “bagsakan” (arrival area) for all fruits and vegetables from neighboring regions, although farmers within the city will still be allowed to unload their produce in the public markets of Agdao, Bankerohan, Buhangin, Piapi, Matina Crossing, Calinan, Toril, Sasa, and Tibungco within a year.
After this year-long transition period, all produce sourced within and outside the city’s borders would be unloaded at the DFTC, a wholesale “bagsakan” market that will open 24/7, Haspe said.
Satellite offices of the City Economic Enterprise and the City Cooperative Development Office will be set up within the facility to administer its operation and ensure that farmers get fair farm gate prices for their goods.
Haspe said prices would be easier to monitor since all fruits and vegetables would be unloaded at the facility, where the cold storage and refrigeration units would ensure the best market condition and longer shelf life.
“Our farmers will be able to know the prevailing price of their goods in the market; their retail, wholesale, and even the farmgate price,” Haspe said.