The government’s P45-million cold storage facilities subsidy program may be rolled out soon after the Department of Agriculture (DA) issued the guidelines for the release of funds to local government units (LGUs).
Last week, Agriculture Undersecretary William C. Medrano said the DA is now in the process of signing memorandum of agreements (MOA) with partner LGUs for the subsidy program that seeks to modernize wet market refrigeration systems through the provision of chillers and reefer vans.
“Once the MOA has been signed, we will download the funds to the LGUs and the LGUs will be the ones to purchase the chillers and reefer vans. As far as the DA is concerned, the program is considered as a grant and it is up to the LGU if they will have their own guidelines,” Medrano said in a virtual press briefing last week.
On November 9, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 24 which outlined the implementing guidelines of the DA’s Kadiwa cold-chain project for chilled/frozen meat.
“The project’s goal is to modernize the food distribution system in traditional wet markets to ensure availability of affordable and safe pork and pork products to the consuming public,” MC 24 read.
“The project’s objective is to ensure safe distribution and handling of both local and imported chilled and frozen pork in the wet markets and other-non supermarket outlets.”
Imported frozen pork may only be sold in wet markets that have proper refrigeration systems or equipment to handle imported meat products, based on existing food safety rules.
The grant of freezers and chillers to wet markets serves as a complementary program to the anticipated influx of imported pork after the government slashed pork tariffs and hiked the minimum access volume.
Under MC 24, the program will be implemented in the National Capital Region and other areas that are “experiencing a spike in the price of local pork” due to reduction of supply caused by African swine fever.
Under the rules, eligible LGUs are those that signified intent to avail the grant through a formal letter, have no unliquidated fund from the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI) accounting office and are willing to enter into a MOA with the DA-BAI.
MC 24 stipulated that the allocation and distribution of cold- chain equipment and freezer van to LGUs will depend on the number of public wet markets identified by the LGUs and the number of eligible project beneficiaries per wet market per LGU.
The number of equipment would also depend on the number of Kadiwa stores identified by the LGU and number of eligible project beneficiaries per farmers’ cooperative, associations and community-based organizations.
“The specifications of cold chain equipment and freezer van to be procured and distributed to project beneficiaries shall be determined by DA-NMIS [National Meat Inspection Service] and DA-AMAS [Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance] after consultation with LGUs and meat vendors,” MC 24 read.
“This is to ensure that the equipment and freezer van specifications are in accordance with the standards on handling chilled and frozen meat and its suitability for use in the wet market setting.”
MC 24 noted that the funding for the grant shall come from the DA-National Livestock Program (NLP) Livestock Extension Program budget by way of donation by the DA-BAI, being the implementing unit where the said funds have been sub-allotted.
“An initial allocation from DA-NLP, sub-allotted to DA-BAI, shall be used in the project. Part of the allocated amount shall be utilized by the DA-BAI to fund the training and the post-training provisions. Additional funds may be allocated for the project subject to funds availability,” it read.