Practical interventions! Support Fishermen With Ice, Reefer Boats for Transport

Support Fishermen With Ice,

Reefer Boats for Transport

Maluso Fish Port, Basilan – Fresh Galunggong, Carballas and other pelagic species are sold for only P70 per kilo at this fish port to traders who bring these to Cebu and Cagayan where after two to three days of travel, these would be sold at over P280 per kilo in the wet market.

When I was in Maluso last Tuesday, I asked the fish port personnel how much do fishermen sell their catch and I was shocked to learn that they would get as low as P30 to P40 per kilo.

That is a difference of about P240 when the fish moves from the fisherman’s net to the consumers’ basket and the reason is the huge logistical cost and the number of hands through which the commodity passes through.

I saw this problem early on in my 3-year stint as Secretary of Agriculture when I moved around the country in a journey called “Biyaheng Bukid.”

In fact, a little over a year as DA Secretary, I proposed that local shipbuilders should build refrigerated vessels to be called “Food Boats” which would ferry highly perishable commodities from the remote production areas of the country to the market in the urban centers.

The Food Boats could travel to the islands where fish is abundant equipped with refrigerated containers or dock in ports near areas where regional food centers would be established to bring fresh vegetables to the market.

As a complementary program, the DA through the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) opened a program called Agri-Fisheries Machinery and Equipment Loaning Program which offered loans at 2% interest to farmers and fishermen’s groups needing equipment like tractors and ice-makers.

Sadly, the Food Boat and Regional Food Centers concept never sailed through the budgeting body of government called Development Budget Coordinating Council (DBCC) which determines which project gets priority funding.

Today, the failure to look at the importance of the very practical proposals to bring food from the production areas to the dining table of consumers at the least cost is biting us.

I have continued my advocacy even. after I moved from the DA to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) by proposing the Mindanao Fisheries and Aqua Development Program to be included in the European Union Funded MINPAD RISE program.

MinFAD proposes the establishment of port harvest facilities like ice-making equipment, blast freezers, cold storage, processing and transport facilities to encourage farmers and fishermen to produce more.

On Tuesday, in Maluso, fishermen told me that if only they have ice-making facilities, fish could cost less because ice, which comes from as far as Zamboanga City, is expensive.

An ice plant has been established by the Provincial Government of Basilan, under Gov. Jim Saliman, but its operation is hampered by the unreliable power supply which comes from power barges.

Sorry na lang if some people perceive me as being “makulit” and the President, Rody Duterte, jokingly describing me as “talkative” but I have to repeat this and talk about this again and again because some people just could not see the point I am trying to raise.

Our seas are bountiful but why would fishermen catch more if they don’t have the simple ice making facility to preserve their catch and the logistical support to bring it to the market?

Our land is so fertile but why would farmers strive to produce more when they are drowned by imports which are cheaper because the exporting countries support their producers?

Unless our so-called economic experts and development planners get out of their air-conditioned offices and appreciate the vast resources that we have, the Philippines will never be a food sufficient country.

I know I lost the first round of my “clash of development perspective” with the powerful and influential economic team but I will continue fighting.

I will keep on harping and talking about the potential of the Philippines to be a food-sufficient country.

This is going to be a long and difficult fight but I am used to fighting battles alone.

Di bale na tawagin akong talkative because I know what I am talking about or “makulit” because some people simply refuse to listen.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#letscrosstheseas!

#letsclimbmountains!

#letschaseonemoredream!