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Fresh Depot, which provides cold storage facilities for farmers, launched its second pilot site in Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal, Cagayan Valley
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Fresh Depot, an initiative of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc, provides a physical and digital platform for farmers to help them reduce food wastage
A cold storage facility was recently set up in Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT), one of the country’s biggest trading centers in the Cagayan Valley region, to help farmers reduce food wastage.
NVAT was the second site for a project called Fresh Depot spearheaded by Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV). The pilot site was in Mankayan, Benguet opened in March.
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Fresh Depot provides a physical and digital platform for farmers, with cold storage as its springboard. It allows farmers and traders to efficiently store and preserve surplus produce until these reach the market, AEV said in a statement.
The project aims to enhance food supply chain in the Philippines as well as provide value-adding services, such as establishing a comprehensive database the government can leverage to enhance its agricultural initiatives.
“Filipino farmers face so many challenges, it can be hard to know where to start. When we saw that cold storage technology could prevent around half of their crops from spoiling between harvest and consumption, this was an obvious answer. Getting paid for most, not half, of their production means that farmers will soon be able to invest in other products that can create a virtuous cycle in their prosperity,” AEV chief transformation officer Emilie Sydney-Smith said.
She added that digitally tracking the cold storage usage can also help the government understand how they can better support farmers.
According to a study by the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, about 42% of locally grown produce goes bad before it can be eaten.
In 2020, the Department of Agriculture underscored the need to establish more cold storage facilities in the country.
NVAT is a major vegetable trading hub for farmers, traders, and buyers from different parts of Luzon. Established in December 2001, the terminal is owned by the private sector (85.29%) and the government.
“As part of NVAT and a farmer myself, I see a lot of potential in providing this facility to farmers and traders, enabling them to preserve their fresh produce’s quality before they are brought to the consumption market. This will also open doors to digitize farm data. We are equally committed to make this project a success to help prepare the country’s agricultural sector for the future,” NVAT general manager Gilbert Cumila said.
For its pilot project, Fresh Depot is collaborating with two leading international agri-tech players: Ecozen Solutions Pvt. Ltd., backed by Nuveen global impact fund USA and EXIM Bank of Government of India, and Cropin Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd., backed by Impact Assets Singapore, as one of its investors.
Fresh Depot is one of five global initiatives selected by the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy to receive free support to test and deploy its Coldtivate app and benefit from its global network. The project aims to combat global supply chain issues, rising inflation, and weather events by maximizing harvests and optimizing food supply.
