THE Department of Agriculture (DA) announced plans to form a logistics office under the agency to centralize all agriculture logistics management matters.

"I will transfer all cold storage facilities of the Department of Agriculture to the logistics office, which will conduct comprehensive research and inventory of all facilities across the Philippines to ensure synchronization," Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said on Monday.

Agriculture secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN

DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the soon-to-be-formed logistics office would be headed by businessman Danny Atayde.

Laurel added that this new office would help address issues on oversupply and post-harvest losses.

The DA chief also announced his plans to construct additional cold storage facilities at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) in Taguig City as part of a comprehensive strategy to tackle overproduction and reduce post-harvest losses in agricultural products, specifically vegetables and other high-value crops.

"The immediate issue I see is the occasional oversupply of tomatoes and cabbage. That's why we need to quickly establish storage at FTI. My direction is to create a network for chilled cold storage systems," said Laurel during a briefing with FTI officials.

Laurel said that if there was overproduction, FTI should purchase the commodities and put them in the Kadiwa program to prevent them from going to waste.

"The plan is also to enhance the DA's Kadiwa program. I intend to bring Kadiwa back to FTI after two years," he said.

Also included in his plans for FTI is to build a chiller warehouse for vegetables and other high-value crops on government property in Taguig City.

The facility, estimated to cost P500 million, will include a processing plant and trading area, focusing on prioritizing farmers' produce for buffer stocking.

"Half of the warehouse should be allocated to the coil system, half is evaporator type. The evaporator type is for short-term storage of high-value crops," said Laurel.

The project is expected to be completed within 12 months.

In line with this, Laurel said that the Philippines is less likely to face concerns regarding post-harvest wastage, especially with two types of cold storage facilities planned.