Low transport rate for agri products backed

President Arroyo has directed Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez to study the proposal of the Mindanao agricultural sector for the lowering of cargo handling rates of agricultural products.

The proposal was made by Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor during the recently concluded Mindanao Food Congress held in Cagayan de Oro City.

It was also brought up in a series of meetings attended by the Mindanao Business Council, the Coalition of Shipping and Port Modernization and other business and private transport organizations.

Agricultural producers in Mindanao have raised their concern over the spiraling costs of cargo handling charges imposed on agricultural products from Mindanao to other parts of the country, especially to Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon. This has unduly raised the prices of these products when sold to the ultimate consumers, thus triggering further inflation.

Alvarez said that he was in favor of reducing the transport cost of agricultural products to lower their costs to the ultimate consumer. What remains to be done is to work out the details of an agreement with the transport operators.