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Davao food exchange terminal to rise in an NDC property in Toril

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 September) — After being shelved for about a decade, the proposed Davao Food Exchange Terminal project will finally push through to provide post harvest and market support for Davao’s fresh food exporters, Davao businessmen said on Friday.

Ramon Allado, chair of the Southern Philippines Construction Core Group (SPCCG), said the food terminal, which will feature a cold storage facility, a Bagsakan for fresh farm goods and spaces for rent for small and medium enterprises, has been identified as the city government’s priority project in the next three years and the Regional Development Council’s priority infrastructure support for the identified industry clusters in Southern Mindanao.

It will serve as a hub where farmers can directly sell fresh farm goods to buyers and exporters, who can easily avail of the cold storage facility to lengthen the shelf life of these goods while awaiting shipment to the market.

The project has been proposed within the 10-hectare property of the National Development Company (NDC) in Daliao, Toril and will sit next to the proposed agro-industrial park that will accommodate potential locators from the region’s food-based industries.

Allado presented the project in the regional economic managers’ forum at Marco Polo Hotel during the President Aquino’s first visit to Davao Thursday.

For years, small and medium exporters have been clamoring for a cold storage facility, which can extend the shelf life of highly perishable agriculture goods when ships are not yet available to bring them to the markets.

Allado, however, said an ordinance is still needed to be passed identifying the Bagsakan within the area, where farmers from different parts of Southern Mindanao can directly drop their goods.

“Both the government and the private sector consider with urgency the establishment of the Food Exchange Complex in Davao to benefit the whole region,” according to the briefing papers presented during the forum.

The project proponents included the NDC, the city government and the SPCGG.

Allado said the project will tap the informal settlers within the proposed 25-hectare agro-industrial park for possible jobs.

“Why food terminal?” he asked, “The city government believes that Davao city needs the food complex as it envisions Davao city as the center of agribusiness and agro-processing in the region.

He said the city has already prepared the necessary off-site infrastructure, including the farm to market roads and the access road leading to the site.

The briefing paper said the project is “slowly shaping up” as possible developers, locators and support services have been identified. Interested locators engaged in poultry, fruit processing, agri-processing for the Middle East market and cold storage facilities have expressed interest in the project.

The constructor’s group DCACI, a member of the Philippine Constructors Association, will source funds through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) while the Department of Agriculture will help build and consolidate the Bagsakan area.

Allado said the 10-hectare property will be the NDC’s equity to the project, which will be lined up in the government’s program under the build-operate-transfer scheme.

Both the NDC and the Department of Trade and Industry will possibly sign a memorandum of understanding with the city government and the private sector represented by the SPCCG to organize the steering committee of the project.

According to the briefing paper, the region’s agriculture-driven growth in the last five years reflected business confidence in the region’s economic potentials.
Mindanao business also believed that agriculture can “stabilize” the country’s economy against the impact of the global economic crisis and that they needed to set up the food terminal facility to boost the competitiveness of Southern Mindanao exporters. (Germelina Lacorte/MindaNews)

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