DA puts up P3.75-M asparagus packing facility in GenSan

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture is constructing a P3.75-million asparagus packing facility at Barangay San Jose, in General Santos City (GenSan), in a bid to transform the area and the Socsksargen region into a major high value crop producer, on top of its distinction as the ‘tuna capital’ of the Philippines.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala and GenSan Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio led the ceremonial groundbreaking of the facility that will benefit 60 farmer-members of the Greenland Asparagus Producers Multipurpose Cooperative (GAPMC), funded by the DA’s High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) and the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor).

Sec. Alcala also committed to allot P10 million for the construction of farm-to-market roads (FMRs) next year, among other interventions to transform GenSan into a major producer of high value crops, including onions and garlic.

The GAPMC farmer-members, led by their chairman Roger Pascual, currently plant a total of 15 hectares, where they harvest an average of 300 to 400 kilos of asparagus shoots daily, which are sorted and packed in a makeshift hut. The GAPMC was organized in 2008. Pascual said most of them were former contract growers of Marsman-Drysdale Agriventures, Inc.

 With the new packing facility, which will be completed by end of October, Pascual said the GAPMC would be able to double their capacity of up to 800 kilos per day. Currently they supply major supermarkets, restaurants and hotels in Metro Manila.

“I would therefore like to see farmers here in General Santos City to improve their quality of life in the next one and a half years,” Sec. Alcala said during the simple groundbreaking ceremony.

He thus encouraged the GAPMC farmer-members to expand their respective area planted to asparagus. He also urged them to consider planting other suitable crops like onions and garlic, as GenSan and other areas in Socsksargen or Region 12 have fertilize soil and favorable weather condition year-round.

Sec. Alcala instructed DA-Region 12 director Amelia Datukan to look at an initial area of at least 100 hectares that could be planted to onions and garlic next year.

Pascual said in GenSan alone there are about 5,000 hectares that could be planted to high value crops.

Sec. Alcala also instructed regional officials of the National Irrigation Administration to undertake appropriate irrigation projects to support the year-round production of high value crops.

He also instructed the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research to assess the potential of processing and canning asparagus for domestic and export markets.

For its part, the DA-NABCOR will help the GAPMC to link directly with institutional buyers and assist the group in their marketing activities.