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

NEWS STORIES

Tanchanco, partners scout BPRE, Sci City for investment prospects
by Jerry James M. de la Torre (October 4, 2004)
Philippine Food Processors and Exporters (PHILFOODEX) Organization, Inc. President Jesus Tanchanco along with 30 members and other businessmen from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) visited last September 17 the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) and the Science Community of Muñoz to assess investment prospects in the area.

BPRE Executive Director Ricardo L. Cachuela, who invited the group, organized the business trip around the science community with a tour of facilities, briefing on technologies and services as well as business cocktails. The science community consists of the local government of Muñoz Science City, one state university, nine science-oriented agencies and four national offices on agri-fishery research and extension.

These agencies and areas of concern are: BPRE - postharvest, processing and mechanization; Central Luzon State University (CLSU) - instruction, research, extension and production; Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) - buffalo, dairy products; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) fishery; Fruits and Vegetables Seed Center (FVSC) - fruits and vegetables; Phil-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) - hybrid rice and machine adaptation; National Irrigation Administration (NIA) - irrigation, drainage, and hydropower generation; Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) - training; Department of Science and Technology (DOST) - general science and Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) - rice, seeds production, rice mechanization, rice-based food processing and by-products utilization.

With these, Muñoz Science City has an abundance of agri-fishery technologies, services, laboratory and other facilities. It has also a pool of multidisciplinary experts like engineers, biologists, economists, chemists, trainers, field technicians and social scientists. Aside from land, water and other natural resources, it has a fair business environment with reasonable costs of doing business. Likewise, there is an array of support services and infrastructure on banking, transportation and telecommunications. The flagship commodities in the area are rice, corn, mango, tilapia, and dairy products which range from pasteurized milk, cheese, yogurt, to pastillas and even ice cream.

PHILFOODEX is a non-stock, non-profit organization of about 233 private business entities on food, processing and export while PCCI has around 20,000 members which makes it the biggest private business group in the country and essentially, the voice of Philippine business.

At the business cocktails, the visiting investors were regaled with numerous song and dance numbers from arts and cultural squads of CLSU. In a brief presentation, Dir. Cachuela presented the investment portfolio for the science community of Muñoz. Vice Mayor Elizabeth R. Vargas of Aliaga town also discussed some business prospects in their locality.