Philippines: Banana growers to benefit from multi-crop project
Ireneo D. Dalayon, president of the Federation of Cooperatives in Mindanao (Fedco), said the third cycle of assistance for the Cacao-Banana Agri-Enterprise Development project will involve post-harvest facilities, fermentation equipment, marketing plans and mechanical dryers.
The amount is yet to be determined, however.
ACDI/VOCA is a volunteer group funded by the US Department of Agriculture, which resulted from the merger of two organizations involved in voluntary service, namely the Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance.
It is implementing the CoCoPal (cocoa-coconut-palay) Farming System project in Mindanao, under which Fedco had previously received assistance.
The new project will benefit Fedco’s 2,000 banana farmer members in the towns of Sto. Tomas and Asuncion in Davao del Norte. It intends to cover 10,000 hectares.
Mr. Dalayon said the cooperative, which estimates its members at 18,000, has always been looking for ways to help banana growers, particularly following issues with China earlier this year and pest and disease problems caused farmers to abandon about 16,000 to 20,000 hectares of plantations in the region.
Source: bworldonline.com
