Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

BPRE holds Visayas-wide technical symposium on tramline projects
by Modesto L. Jose (September 3, 2009)
The Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension conducted a Visayas-wide technical symposium on agricultural tramline projects on August 27-28, 2009 at Alta Cebu Village Garden Resort in Cordova, Cebu.

Implementers (Regional Agricultural Engineering Groups, Office of Provincial Agriculturists), recipients (Local Government Units, Municipal Agricultural Offices), and end-users (farmers' associations) within Visayas and Region X attended the symposium.

"Tramline is a big project which benefits a large number of farmers, thus, we also need big commitment for the success of this program", said Ricardo D. Oblena, Regional Director, DA-RFU VII, in his welcome remarks.

Arnel Ramir M. Apaga, Director II, BPRE's Training and Extension Department, presented an overview of the cold chain program. The cold chain system is a series of inter connected handling operations of vegetables from the farm to the market. The process involves the refrigerated handling, packaging, storage and transport of perishable products.

"Agricultural tramline is actually an important component of cold chain system in mountainous areas in terms of hauling the vegetables from farm-to-roadside. Tramline is being used not only for high-value commerciable crops but also for abaca and cut flowers as well", said Dir. Apaga.

"We are expecting that the national cold chain program and tramline projects will be completed before the end of this year. I know we could do this through our united efforts", he added.

Meanwhile, Engr. Raul R. Paz, National Tramline Program Leader gave an overview of the agricultural tramline system. He said that it is a challenge for the implementers to operationalize the tramline system in the areas.

The agricultural tramline was developed to provide an alternative for easy hauling of commodities from mountainous/ hilly areas to the nearest farm to market road or assembly sites. It aims to reduce drudgery, hauling time and postharvest losses during handling and hauling.

Engr. Gaston B. Cael, Engineer II of DA-CAR, discussed the technical design of the tramline system (its parts, components and functions) whereas Guillermo S. Angeles, technical staff of BPRE, discussed the estimates, program of works, construction, and timetable of activities of the project. Engr. Bartolome S. Tesorero, Jr. also a technical staff in BPRE discussed the implementing guidelines, roles of the project management committee (PMC) and the tramline implementation strategies.

An active open forum followed at the end of the day. Issues and concerns on the implementation of the project were tackled.

Participants also conducted site visit at the tramline system in Dalaguete, Cebu City.