BUTUAN CITY – The Department of Agriculture in Caraga (DA-13) turned over Friday (March 11, 2022) a cold storage and packing facility to San Francisco, Agusan del Sur to help farmers prevent losses by prolonging the shelf life of agricultural products.
“The facility is first-ever in Caraga Region with a cold storage and packing facility that resemble like a big refrigerator,” DA-13 said in a statement Friday.
DA-13 said the newly-completed PHP25-million Monolithic Dome Cold Storage and Packing Facility would help keep the freshness of perishable goods of farmers such as vegetables and fruits by slowing down the deterioration process and prolonging shelf life for several weeks and decreasing losses.
The facility was formally handed over by Rebecca Atega, the Regional Technical Director for Operations of DA-13 to San Francisco Mayor Solomon Rufila.
“In terms of its resiliency to different climate conditions, the dome is airtight, super-insulated, and can offer absolute protection against calamities due to its disaster-resistant structure,” Atega was quoted in the statement as saying.
She said the facility would be of great use to the vegetable farmers in Agusan del Sur, including those engaged in fruit production.
The facility, Atega said, is funded under the Bayanihan II or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act of the government that aims to establish a resilient food system that will lead to food accessibility and availability amidst the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Rufila emphasized that the conduct of benchmarking activity is necessary to fully maximize the facility.
“Training is necessary so we will conduct a field visitation to different sites. Through that, we can duplicate their activities, quality control techniques, and different technologies applied to their dome,” Rufila said.-PNA
