Department of Agriculture to put up cold storage, rice facilities in Bohol

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture will build rice processing and cold storage facilities in Bohol to help the province lower the cost of basic commodities.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said DA and the local government agreed to construct a cold storage facility in Tubigon town to serve as the consolidation point of all the catch in the waters off the island.

“The high cost of fish in Bohol is mainly because the island does not have a cold storage facility to consolidate the fish catch. Fish caught in the waters around the island is brought to Cebu and then shipped back to Bohol simply because even such basic facilities as ice plants are very limited,“ Piñol said.

From Tubigon, refrigerated vans will be used to distribute the fish to the different towns of the island, while fish aggregating devices or payaos will also be established to ensure beter fish catch.

Furthermore, rice processing facilities will be established in every 5,000-hectare area which will be operated by farmer cooperatives.

Bohol’s rice production remains low as average production per hectare is only placed at 2.6 metric tons (MT) per harvest, way below the national average of about four MT.

DA will also implement its flagship Production Loan Easy Access program to improve financing to local farmers and fisher folks.

“The local government units also agreed to intensify the acceptance of hybrid rice seeds with each of them targeting at least 50 percent of the rice farms in their towns to be planted to hybrid seeds as this could yield as much as 11 MT per hectare,” Piñol said.

“Before the end of the administration, it is expected the island would be able to produce enough food for its people and the increasing number of tourists at prices which would be affordable to the consumers,“ he said.

Last January, farmers and stakeholders of Bohol approved the government’s plan to implement its flagship dairy program in the province aimed at developing the industry and lessening dependence on importation.

DA plans to turn Bohol into the dairy capital of the Philippines with the establishment of a 5,000-head dairy farm estimated to produce 21-million liters of milk annually.

The department also targets to partner with big milk companies to look into the prospects of establishing a fresh milk-packaging plant in the Ubay Stock Farm.