BENGUET vegetables are highly perishable, so the Department of Agriculture is proposing to build food terminals outside Metro Manila outskirts to better distribute produce. Benguet supplies most of the salad vegetable requirements of Metro Manila. EV ESPIRITU/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said he would redefine the multimillion-peso Benguet prototype of a proposed network of Agri-Pinoy Trading Centers, which he described as a “planning blunder that we do not want to happen again.”
An operational system to make farmers use the P780-million Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) will be developed by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Piñol told Cordillera governors, representatives and mayors during a meeting on Aug. 11 at Benguet State University (BSU) here.
BAPTC, which replaced the La Trinidad Trading Post, was put up by the secretary’s predecessor, Proceso Alcala, who patterned the facility after a successful trading center in Sariaya, Quezon province. Alcala designed more than 20 centers for different provinces to act as a food distribution chain that would find new domestic markets for fruits, vegetables and other crops.
“We assumed that the farmers needed it, but it turned out they are not yet ready for it,” Piñol said.
Farmers refused to heed an order issued by the municipal government on May 1 for them to vacate the old trading post and relocate to BAPTC. They have petitioned the court to stop the municipal government from implementing its order.
Moreover, the farmers complained about operating charges being imposed by BAPTC managers.
Piñol said resistance to the project proved that his predecessor had not properly consulted the farmers. But because the structure is up and operational, he said, “we have to come up with a system to make it work for the farmers.”
“We will go back to the drawing board. We have created a [technical working group to overhaul the operating system] because we would like this facility to be used by the farmers by December in time for the peak demand season for vegetables,” he said.
Last week, Piñol inspected BAPTC and spoke to its project steering committee composed of DA regional officers, Benguet officials, farmer representatives, and BSU, which loaned part of its property to host the trading facility.
Addressing the farmers, he said: “I saw the initial [rationale for] BAPTC, [and] it states, to buy the products of the farmers. No! The government is not in the business of buying vegetables. If we do that, we are doomed. We are here only to assist the farmers make more money from their produce and this facility is intended only to enable the farmer to do that.”
Piñol said the department was working out an option to give the four-hectare BAPTC to the farmers.