LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Apr. 6 (PIA) — The Self Reliant Team(SRT) La Trinidad Cooperative of Benguet recently received from the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) of the Department of Agriculture some goods and equipment for an enterprise development project that will give access to farmers to quality potato planting materials.
The SRT Coop acquired the P12.28-million PRDP Potato Tuberlets Production and Marketing Enterprise project in the form of a grant jointly funded by the World Bank, the national government through DA, the municipal local government with counterpart from the cooperative. The enterprise component project aims to sustain the production and delivery of quality potato planting materials and make it accessible to farmers.
The turned over goods and equipment include one unit of delivery truck, pallets, crates, seedling media, hand trolleys, shovels, and knapsack sprayers.
Part of the project is the establishment of a 400-square meter greenhouse with storage worth P3.7 M which will contain elevated seed beds and steel cabinets within the greenhouse.
“This project is indeed a realization of dreams and we were able to find a way to make it happen with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and the LGU,” said SRT BOD Chair Freddie Langpaoen, as he shared how the Cooperative envisioned to provide farmers with clean and accessible potato planting materials.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda, in his message, urged members and officers of the SRT to continue the partnership in providing services to the farmers.
Jocelyn W. Beray, Enterprise Development component head of the DA Regional Project Coordination Office-CAR, commended the SRT Cooperative and the LGU for their counterpart funding and for successfully acquiring the goods based on procurement procedures.
She hopes that the greenhouse component of this subproject will be constructed the soonest for its full operation, and that the enterprise will suffice and sustain the demand for clean potato planting materials.
To date, the local government has already completed four enterprise projects while two are ongoing in support of the production and marketing of the town’s top commodities.** JDP/SCA-PIA-CAR, Benguet with reports from Elvy T. Estacio/DA-PRDP
