On Monday 27 June, Senator Cynthia Villar announced that smugglers are paying cold storage operators to reject local crops, leaving them to rot, while making imported produce, including illegally smuggled produce, fit for sale.
Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture, said they had received reports about this “nefarious” practice that was adversely affecting local farmers and the agriculture sector. She said they found cold stores to be empty although these were declared as full.
The senator then called on the Cold Chain Association of the Philippines (CCAP) “to police their own ranks.”
She acknowledged that the concerted efforts of the two industries, agriculture and cold chain companies, result in more business and economic gains.
Speaking during the 14th annual general membership meeting and training conference of CCAP, the senator lauded the importance of the service provided by cold chain companies to the agriculture sector.
“Let us continue to dialogue and form linkages since we have a common goal of ensuring food security in the country. To achieve that goal, all of us should be stakeholders. On the matter of food security, we should be helping each other. With our concerted efforts and coordinated actions, nothing is impossible,” she said.
Read more at newsinfo.inquirer.net.
