KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato, Philippines – Banana growers in North Cotabato are now rejoicing following the commitment of a shipping company to accommodate their produce and transport them to areas such as Metro Manila.
Ecclesiastes Roque Jr., regional chair of banana industry players in Central Mindanao, said Boy Jala, manager of the 2Go Shipping in General Santos City has issued assurances to allocate them at least two units of 20-footer container vans each week so that North Cotabato growers could send their produce to Metro Manila.
Roque said based on the agreement with Jala, 2Go would priority to independent growers from this city.
“We welcome this development,” he said, as he also thanked former North Cotabato governor Manny Piñol for brokering the meeting.
“This really relieved us from losing millions of pesos due to shipment problem,” Roque said.
Earlier, Roque said banana growers in North Cotabato have been losing between P4-7 million per week due to the lack of available ships to bring their products to identified markets.
He said because of the lack of ships, bananas would often rot in ports of origin, such as in General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro or Davao.
“We saw a glimpse of hope with this development,” Roque said of the new development.
He said the accommodation that 2Go has provided would mean that they could now ship about 100,000 kilos of lacatan and Cavendish bananas to Metro Manila and other markets. SFM