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

NEWS STORIES

Visayas, Mindanao cold chain conference held
by Gladys May Zamora (October 12, 2009)
The Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE) conducted a Conference on the Operationalization of Cold Chain Program for Agri-Fishery Products on September 23 to 24, 2009 at the De Luxe Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City.

The said affair was attended by 63 recipients from Visayas and Mindanao. Recipients from Region V were also present in the said conference.

According to Engr. Raul Paz, the project leader of the cold chain program, the conference covered the general situation of the cold chain program in the Region. He also announced in the said event that their team is almost through in the phase 1 implementation of the program. Now, they are crafting its phase 2 implementation.

Mr. Constancio Maghanoy Jr., representative of DA-RFU X, gave welcome remarks and Ms. Leny Pecson of DA-AMAS gave opening remarks. Ms. Pecson also answered some questions during the open forum.

During the technical session, Mr. Leo Eduria, Manager of the NORMIN Veggies Consolidation Center in Agora, Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City and Mr. Florante Mosloso municipal administrator of Antique talked about their experiences in operating the cold chain facilities. On the other hand, Ms. Clavelia Olito of BPRE discussed the financial viability of operating cold chain facilities.

"Huwag tayong hihingi ng hindi natin kailangan.We should be ready organizationally to handle the project na binibigay ng gobyerno," (We should not ask for something that we don't need.) Ms. Pecson said to the participants who questioned the Bagsakan Cold Storage program in Antique, after Mr. Mosloso's session.

During the second day, the participants visited the Mindanao Cooler Corporation, Normin Veggies Consolidation Center and the WMC Cold Storage and Blast Freezer in Cagayan de Oro City for the actual presentation of the cold chain facilities.

After the said visit, the participants determined the cause of the problems that they encountered in implementing the cold chain system through a workshop. The lack of feasibility study, lack of technical capabilities of the recipients, insufficient power supply, lack of awareness of the consumers to the facility and poor management of the farmers association were the problems identified by the participants.

Dr. Rosendo S. Rapusas, acting deputy executive director of BPRE, Mr. Arnel Ramir M. Apaga, acting director II of TED-BPRE and Engr. Paz served as critics during the workshop.