The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) will be transformed into a corporation to provide it with the flexibility to expand its operations.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar, who chairs the BAPTC’s Project Steering Board (PSB), said transforming the BAPTC into a corporation would “optimize” potentials and profitability of the center through “more cost-efficient services and modern facilities.”
Dar noted that the present operation of the BAPTC is “constrained by a bureaucratic government system, hindering its growth, sustainability and profitability.”
“As a corporation, the BAPTC will become a major player in our drive to modernize and industrialize the agriculture industry in the Cordillera region,” he said.
“With a corporate set-up, stakeholders will be able to optimize their benefits, improve the marketability of Cordillera vegetables, and provide our farmers, buyers and traders reasonable profit for their produce. Further, it could create subsidiaries to engage in other revenue-generating enterprises.”
At present, the BAPTC has six main stakeholders which are represented in the PSB that serves as its policy-making and advisory board, according to the DA.
The DA secretary chairs the PSB, while the Benguet State University president sits as vice-chair.
The other members are the Benguet provincial governor, La Trinidad municipal mayor, Benguet district congressman, and representative of the Benguet farmers leaders’ council. Dr. Violeta Salda of BSU currently serves as BAPTC chief operations officer.
During its meeting last May 31, the DA said the BAPTC board suggested some businesses that the corporation will undertake once its incorporation is completed: trading of farm inputs and implements, other agricultural and food processing equipment; setting up of one-stop shop store including pharmacy; savings and loan unit; training and events management; and physical wellness facility.
The BAPTC started its trading operations in July 2015 with a P700-million funding from the DA. The DA noted that the BAPTC was constructed to “decongest the decades-old La Trinidad vegetable trading post, which still operates to this day.”
The BAPTC has facilitated the trading of vegetables in the area from a mere 269 metric tons (MT) in its initial year to 169,850 MT last year. The number of its stakeholders has ballooned from 108 farmers to more than 40,000 to date, according to the DA.
Likewise, BAPTC’s income has grown over the years reaching P11.73 million in 2020 from just P5.6 million in 2017, the DA added.
As of May, the BAPTC has accredited 187 groups, composed of: 146 farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), with more than 31,400 members; 34 buyers and traders groups, four transport groups, and three packers’ and porters’ group, with a combined membership of more than 4,500.
The BAPTC has also accredited 5,452 individual farmers, market facilitators, buyers, inter-traders, packers and porters, the DA said.
The DA said the bulk of major vegetables traded in the BAPTC in the past six years, such as cabbage, potato, radish and carrots, came from the towns Mankayan, Kibugan, Buguias, and Bakun, in Benguet and in Bauko, in Mountain Province.
The highland vegetables are sold mostly in Divisoria and Balintawak in Metro Manila; Urdaneta, Pangasinan; Batangas; and Tacloban.
“In all, we are proud that the center has continued operating despite community lockdowns due to the pandemic, thus ensuring unhampered flow of food supply to Metro Manila and other major vegetable consumption areas,” he said.
“In succeeding months and years, we will continue to help Cordillera farmers adopt a market-oriented, value-chain or food systems strategy, aimed at increasing both their productivity and income.”