THE government should put up cold chain facilities in the countryside to solve the agricultural production woes in the Philippines, according to the head of a logistics solutions firm.
At the monthly food forum “Usapang Pagkain” organized recently by the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), Renato Pamintuan, president of Bayside Terminal and Transportation Services Inc. (BTTSI), said the government should look into solving the agricultural production issues such as the perishability and spoilage of goods by putting up cold chain facilities in the countryside.
“Do you know why the Philippines has such a big volume of imports? Because all of the cold chain facilities are concentrated in the demand side, which is Metro Manila. They’re all here,” Pamintuan said, partly in Filipino.
He explained that since “importation is via port of Manila,” when the items arrive, there should be a facility that can handle them and distribute them to cold chain facilities. He wondered aloud why the government is only focused on the demand, “and why are they not solving the supply side? It’s all there in the provinces, in the rural areas. So if you did not put the cold chain facilities outside, you are not solving the supply side and production side,” the head of the logistics solutions firm added.
Pamintuan emphasized that this has been the “elephant in the room,” as it is the recurring problem being faced by the country’s fishermen and farmers. This, he said, leads to the prices of produce declining down every hour because these cannot be preserved.
He also stressed that the fishermen’s capabilities are confined to making dried fish since the method of drying does not require the use of cold chain facilities, or at the least, ice-making machines, which Pamintuan said, the Philippines lacks.
“Out of 7,600 islands in the country, there are very few ice-making machines provided to fishermen,” and this accounts for why “we are just good at making tuyo and daing. Why? Because that’s the only thing the fishermen [can do]” given the circumstances, Pamintuan said.
Pamintuan suggested creating a hub system for food distribution, with every region having its own regional food terminal in order to establish a system for food distribution.
He said he was inspired by the Amir market in Dubai, which has a huge food terminal system. “Every trader is operating its own cold chain facility and this is…why Dubai catapulted itself to become the principal food supplier of the entire Middle East. They are not producing it, they are only traders but they all receive it there, they process it there, and then they ship it to Saudi Arabia and all the other areas around.”
In his proposal, “Every region will have its own regional food terminal and then Clark, with the huge area that it has right now, Clark will be the national hub. Clark is near Subic so all the imported food, to stop all of this smuggling, should only be coursed through that area for customs processing. They should all come in through there because it is near Metro Manila which is the demand side and then Central Luzon is booming as well,” Pamintuan said.
The regional food terminals, he said, should contain “practically everything that is needed by the farmers,” such as machines for drying, processing, cutting and packing. “Give them all that, offered by the government as a toll service,” and they can just pay per kilo, for example.
Pamintuan stressed that terminals provide efficiency, cost-savings, and put order into everything.
He zeroed in on strengthening the production capacity of the country, saying one cannot have surplus or excess of goods to export without first having the capability to produce.