No less than Mayor Sara Duterte formally opened on Monday, May 27, the P74.8 million Davao City Food Terminal in Daliao, Toril. This is part of the 25-hectare Davao Food Complex.
“This Food Terminal is not exclusive for Davao City farmers only. It's useless if Davao City farmers will be the only ones to grow. Our growth should extend to our neighboring places,” Sara said.
The Food terminal aims to become a venue where small-scale farmers can cash in on their products without the intervention of middlemen.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF DA |
Sara said the biggest advantage of the Food Terminal is that farmers, including those from outside the city, will have a say on the price of their products.
She said the city has no intention of turning the Food Terminal into a revenue-generating facility because farmers can only pay minimal charges for the use of the facility. It is important for farmers to earn a bigger income, she added.
“The main goal of this food terminal is helping our small-scale farmers than making a profit,” she said.
Outgoing councilor Marissa Abella, chair of the committee on agriculture, said the Davao Food and Trade Terminal is very important as it will become a venue where farmers can sell their products to foreign and other buyers.
She said The farmers have to form themselves into a cooperative to fully benefit from the new market which is a joint venture between the city and the Department of Agriculture (DA). The agriculture department provided the budget for its construction while the city will take charge of managing the center.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF DA |
Abella said it was designed to enable farmers to skip through the layers of middlemen so they can access lucrative markets for their produce and increase their sales in the process. It shall serve as the market for agricultural products of farmers in the city and is seen to benefit even the small farmers in the Davao Region.
The Terminal was conceptualized to form part of the country’s integrated supply chain being established in major food producing regions. This will enable farmers and fisherfolk to sell their products directly, earn comfortable income and at the same time make basic food affordable and accessible to the consuming public.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city and DA, the city government is allowed to use the Daliao property initially for 15 years with the possibility of renewal.
Davao City is the premier agricultural and trade center in Mindanao and has provided as its objective in the Comprehensive Land Use Development Plan (CLUP) the creation of a trading post much like the Davao Food and Trade Terminal.
The city’s 2013-2022 CLUP has allocated 45.65% or a total 111,387.49 hectares for Agriculture. Agricultural land comprises the biggest portion of the city’s total land area because the city relies primarily on agriculture for food, feeds and raw materials for its agriculture and other industries.
“Daliao is a strategic site for an the Food Terminal as it will capture most of the products coming from the agricultural production areas of Davao and nearby provinces and will thus provide market support to the farmers in Mindanao,” Abella said. The Center will provide marketing infrastructure support for small and medium farm size vegetables, fruits and other food crop growers in the area.
While the city will initially manage the facility, and a marketing group from the DA-Davao Region office will oversee the quality of the fresh produce being delivered in the Terminal to ensure high value, its management will eventually be turned over to the farmers.
