Barangay Food Terminal

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has put on the fast track a novel barangay-level trading program that directly links farm producers in the countryside to small wet markets in urban centers in step with the intensified efforts by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to make prime goods more accessible to, and affordable by, low-income families.

The "Barangay Food Terminal" (BFT) program of President Arroyo, which Yap said would lower the costs of basic goods like rice, meat and vegetables sold in small wet markets or stores like the government-assisted but private sector-led Tindahan Natin outlets, involves the provision of special routes as food lanes and the use of cold storage facilities in strategic locations to better preserve perishable goods.

Yap, who formally launched one of these BFTs last Wednesday at Barangay 649, Baseco compound in Tondo, Manila, said the program is being undertaken by the DA in tandem with the local government units.

"This project aims to minimize losses by preserving food quality that pulls down the cost of the wage goods and improving the efficiency in transporting and distributing these goods from farms to markets," Yap said.

Yap said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) will donate five big ice boxes to the Baseco BFT to help keep its supplies of fish fresh and will make arrangements with Navotas Fishport manager Tito Cosejo to supply two boxes of bangus and three boxes of galunggong to the food terminal daily at the wholesale price of only P45 to P50 per kilo.

The DA chief also announced that for the first day of operation of the Baseco BFT, the regular supply of two boxes of bangus and three boxes of galunggong would be free.

He said that under this novel barangay-level trading program, basic commodities sold in BFT-covered areas will be about 10 percent cheaper than those sold in regular sources.

"We need to come up with innovative measures to bring down prices of wage goods like rice, meat, chicken, fish and vegetables to levels well within the reach of low-income families so that majority of Filipinos can truly benefit from the sustained improvement of the country’s agricultural productivity," Yap said. "The nascent rebound of the farm sector, which grew nearly five percent in the year’s first three quarters, would have no direct effect on ordinary consumers unless we find ways of lowering the cost of taking these goods to them."

Yap was accompanied during the launching of the Baseco BFT by Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, Assistant Secretary for Agribusiness and Marketing Salvador Salacup, Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Dennis Araullo, BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento, director Francisco Ramos III of the Agri-business Marketing and Assistance Service (AMAS), and executive director Ricardo Cachuela of the Bureau of Post Harvest Research and Extension (BPRE).

Gregorio San Diego of the United Broilers’ Raisers Association (UBRA), which supplied the chicken and eggs for the Baseco BFT; Edwin Latayan of the Luntian Feeds Multipurpose Cooperative, for pork and beef; Michelle Carol Diso of the Benguet Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Inc. and Ronald Hernandez of the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal, for lowland and highland vegetables; and Josue Buenaobra for tilapia, were also present.

Punong Barangay Tess Lumactud, along with the members of the Sangguniang Pambarangay of Barangay 649, welcomed the Yap entourage during their visit.

Yap emphasized that BFT-covered areas would not compete with regular wet markets but would actually complement them in selling basic commodities to low-income groups living in depressed barangays.

BFTs will be established in selected places, with at least two outlets already in place at the Baseco compound and another in Barangay Batasan Hills in Quezon City. The Baseco BFT began its dry run on Nov. 8 and started regular operations today.

Yap said the BFT trading program will be expanded by the DA with the establishment of five to 10 more locations this month. Another 20 BFTs in urban belts and suburbs are targeted for implementation in 2007.

Among these target areas are Smokey Mountain in Tondo and the V. Mapa-Pureza districts in Manila; Escopa in Quezon City; Dagat-dagatan in Navotas; Signal Village and Maharlika Village in Bicutan, Taguig; Bagong Silang in Camarin, Caloocan; Maricaban in Malibay, Pasay City; and Addition Hills in Mandaluyong.

Even during his stint as administrator of the National Food Authority and immediately after he first took as DA Secretary, Yap had already developed a model to link production sources in the countryside to distribution or market centers in urban areas.

The DA under Yap initially came up with the Huwarang Palengke concept, which aims to ensure the sufficient supply and stable prices of wage goods by promoting cooperation between private and public markets in slashing the number of trade layers that have unduly jacked up the cost of transporting products from sources to their final distribution points.

Shortly before leaving the DA in 2005, Yap had pushed the setting up of special road lanes for perishable farm goods to bring them straight from farm sources to public markets without having to encounter delays, such as the payment of informal fees.

Further improving on this model upon his return to the DA more than a month ago,  Yap had ordered the immediate implementation of the BFT program to make available low-priced goods to poor families living in depressed communities identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Yap added a new component–the Cold Chain Program–that would make prices of wage goods even more affordable and would enable BFT-covered areas to become distribution points for small sari-sari stores.

He said that under the Cold Chain Program, cold storage facilities would be set up in strategic points to allow the storage of perishable goods like vegetables, fish, meat, poultry and other products while these await distribution to small sari-sari stores across Metro Manila.

Yap said the DA is giving a sharper focus to better managing the supply chain from the producers to consumers in step with President Arroyo’s agenda of raising the incomes of farmers and fisherfolk, creating enough jobs in the countryside and expanding the access of ordinary consumers to cheaper goods.

"The BFT program is part of the DA’s ongoing efforts to ensure nationwide access to affordable agricultural products," he said.

To further realize this goal, he said the DA is committed to raising public spending on rural infrastructure; easing the tight credit squeeze in the countryside; attracting greater foreign capital into agribusiness ventures, and intensifying technology transfer programs and rural extension work for the benefit of farmers and fisherfolk.