LAOAG CITY, Feb 27 (PIA) – The regional office of the Department of Agriculture gives Php 5 million funding for the Consolidation and Trading Facility in Ilocos Norte that will be managed by the Bacarra Zanjera Multi-purpose Cooperative.
Proven that the multi-purpose cooperative has shown consistent excellence in management experience, it is one of the three qualified beneficiaries in the region to spearhead consolidation of agricultural produce in Ilocos Norte.
On one hand, the municipality of Vintar was also awarded a Php6-M worth of Rice Processing Center which will be operated by Alviar Multi-Purpose Cooperative and a PhP7.2-M worth of Solar Powered Irrigation System which will soon benefit farmers of the Beng-bengcag Solar Pump Farmers Association, Incorporated.
Wilhelmina Castañeda, DA regional office agribusiness and marketing assistance division chief, said the financial grant will be used to consolidate agriculture products in the province and will be marketed nationwide.
“Through this project, agricultural products of Ilocos Norte will be consolidated and marketed in Metro Manila and other established Kadiwa Market centers,” Castañeda said.
The facility was subsidized through the Enhanced KADIWA ni Ani at Kita Inclusive Food and Supply Chain which is a financial assistance program to develop Farmers and Fisherfolk Cooperatives and Associations (FCAs) as reliable and efficient commodity suppliers not only in the region but also in high-demand areas such as Metro Manila.
The financial grants under this program are purposely for packing facilities, consolidation, and KADIWA retailing.
“Malaking tulong po ito (pertaining to the consolidation and training facility) sa munisipyo ng Bacarra sa probinsiya ng Ilocos Norte,” Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc said.
With the provincial government’s vision for the province to be “a little province that will soon feed the country”, the governor shares his willingness to extend assistance as food crisis comes with the pandemic brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“The Philippines is now enduing a food crisis. I know that Ilocos Norte is not one of those feeling the crisis but I do believe that Ilocos Norte can be one of the solutions to this,” the local chief executive noted.
In the data of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Ilocos Norte leads in the production on garlic, onion, tomato, and mungbean. The province is also the remaining area in the Ilocos Region with no case of African Swine Fever (ASF) virus.
“May we continue to supplement the nation’s food supply and be a great assistance to the food security problems the Philippines faces,” he remarked. (JCR/VHS/MJTAB, PIA ILOCOS NORTE with reports from Department of Agriculture Region I)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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