PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has approved the trade department’s three-year food logistics action agenda, which sought to improve the country’s food distribution system and reduce transport and logistics costs, Malacañang said.
Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the agenda was raised as early as last year, when Marcos directed the agriculture, trade, and interior departments to expand farm-to-market roads, the cold chain industry, and ports infrastructure.
“The action plan’s general objective is to ensure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food for Filipinos, and that consumers reliably get the right product at the right time,” said Garafil.
She added: “It is committed to a whole-of-government approach where key agencies involved shall be required to prioritize, focus, and allocate funding on specific initiatives.”
The logistics plan also includes measures to curb hoarding, smuggling, and overstaying food imports, as well as boost monitoring of warehouses and cold storage facilities, Garafil said.
For its goals to be achieved, the food logistics agenda has 6 plans of action, which include “revolutionizing” the country’s food distribution system, solving problems on supply chain, lowering transport and logistics costs, and growing investments in logistics infrastructure on transportation and storage.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will also improve existing food terminals and establish more food hubs nationwide, the Palace said.
“By integrating food terminals, the supply chain from producers to consumers could be shortened, with standardized logistical processes and transportation system directed towards specific destinations,” said Garafil.
“These hubs operate as central command centers for effectively supervising the balance between demand and supply with the resulting synergy within these hubs amplifying the effectiveness of the action plan.”
The President approved the action agenda on Tuesday, Aug. 29, during a sectoral meeting in Malacañang, when he also ordered the Bureau of Customs to boost its fight against illegal hoarders and smugglers. (ABS-CBN News)
