September 4, 2008

 

Firm, Swiss partner eye grain facilities in Dapitan, Batangas
    

 

Dapitan City-based Zamboanga Development and Management Corp. (ZDMC) and its Swiss partner Silverdale will invest PHP 1.3 billion into the construction of grain and cold chain facilities in a bid to lower prices of Mindanao corn and fish for southern Luzon consumption.

 

About PHP 500 million would be used to develop the 9-hectare Dapitan Port, while the remaining PHP 800 million will be used to expand the port in Batangas.

 

ZDMC president George C. Aseniero said much of the investment budget would be used to buy machineries, with a British company providing the technology.

 

ZDMC has invested PHP 30 million to develop the sites of the two ports, which can accommodate large cargo vessels.

 

The grain and cold chain facilities will be built in Mabini, Batangas, and Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte.

 

The Philippines only has two grain terminals located in Subic, Zambales, and Bataan. A new grain terminal will be built in southern Batangas to take care of Manila's south, according to Aseniero.

 

Corn farmers in Zamboanga del Norte and Lanao provinces will supply the demand from southern Luzon.

 

Aseniero said Mindanao produces a lot of corn and they do not have big feedmills there.

 

The agriculture department had identified Zamboanga del Norte as a key corn producer. Aseniero said Mindanao farmers should now be encouraged to plant yellow corn.

 

Zamboanga Peninsula has about 185,000-hectares planted with corn, with 93 percent of them being white corn. Sammy M. Simbajon, chief of the agriculture department's regional operations, said the Zamboanga Peninsula has more than 200,000 hectares of potential land for corn expansion.

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