Camarines Norte serves as farmers’ go-between

Camarines Norte’s provincial government has assumed the role of trader of locally produced crops to improve their marketing and farm income.

It has started buying and selling the products following the opening of the P44.24-million Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (APTC) in Vinzons town, according to Gov. Edgardo Tallado.

The management of the APTC will ensure that the farmers do not spend for transportation because the province has reefer vans to pick up crops right at the farms or in designated areas, Tallado said.

He said the province would operate the trading center for three to five years, after which a farmers’ cooperative should have been formed to take over.

The APTC was the first such facility completed by the Aquino administration, through the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Sariaya experience

A similar structure, named Sentrong Pamilihan ng Produktong Agrikultura ng Quezon Foundation Inc. Bagsakan Center, was established in Sariaya town, Quezon province, in 2004 from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of then Quezon Rep. Proceso Alcala, now the agriculture secretary, according to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Alcala, who graced the May 15 inauguration and opening of the APTC, said it was not easy to operate a trading center for farmers based on the Sariaya experience. He said it took them several misses before the center got on the right operational track and has since changed the lives of many farmers in Quezon.

When it was set up, the Sariaya center had “a profit-driven management system that was unfavorable to both traders and farmers,” the DOST said in its website. “This led to its irregular operations and, eventually, its fall.”

In 2007, Alcala, who was congressional representative up to 2010, took over management of the center, “armed with vision of helping Sariaya’s farmers achieve a better quality of life.” He reestablished the facility into an institution and assigned Arnulfo Mañalac to become its administrator.”

The operations were first subsidized by Alcala’s office until it accumulated its own funds by charging farmers a participation fee of P2 per kilo of vegetables.

Alcala said the APTC would not start from scratch because it will use the “template” of the Sariaya experience.

Top crops

Camarines Norte produces rice, coconut and pineapple, as well as vegetables like string beans, cassava, camote, banana, pepper, eggplant, and fresh and dry marine products. These were sold wholesale and retail during the opening of the APTC.

Emily Bordado, chief of the communications department of the DA in Bicol, said the department provided 79 percent or P34.86 million of the fund needed to build the trading center, while the province shouldered 21 percent, or P9.38 million.

“The facility is expected to benefit at least 10,000 families who are tilling some 15,000 hectares of productive land,” Bordado said.

With the trading center in place, farmers will earn more from higher farm-gate prices and will save on transportation cost, which accounts for about 5 percent of their production expenses, she said.

The APTC was constructed in a 5.6-hectare property owned by the provincial government along Maharlika Highway in Sitio Mat-I in Barangay (village) Sto. Domingo in Vinzons. Its 675-square-meter building is equipped with a food storage, cold storage, an office and trading floor.

Another building has a farmers’ lounge, with spaces for a canteen, power house and guard house.

Alongside the operation of the APTC is a newly established farm school, where farmers would be taught production technology, Governor Tallado said.